What An Excellent Plan
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: Naruto wasn't going to let this oppotunity go to waste, and what better way to change the future than to make sure Obito didn't fall in love with Rin? It would have worked too, had he not fallen for her instead. Female Naruto FemNaru eventual NarutoxObito time-travel
1. People Like Me

**What An Excellent Plan**

**Obito**  
**オビト**

* * *

In all honesty, Obito didn't quite know why he did what he did. At the tender age of five years old, he found he liked helping people. There was no explanation for it; no one had ever gone out of their way to help him, so it wasn't like he felt the need to repay the favour to the world. The lack of motivation still didn't change the fact he helped people.  
Currently, he found himself scaling a rather tall grand oak, fighting his way through the branches to reach Kura, elder Kazumi's cat. It was all in exchange for a war story to be told at a later date, but Obito didn't care for that bit. Since the elderly lady couldn't reach the cat herself, he wouldn't walk by and leave her too it, not when he could help. He already watched several people, including two ninja's, pass by the elderly woman trying to coax her cat from the tree, and not one had bothered to stop and help.

"Here Kura Kura, nice kitty cat."  
The tabby turned to stare at him, as if raising one non-existent eyebrow at his patronising tone. It's claws sunk deeper into the bark, promising him a fight if he wanted to fetch the tom from the tree.  
Letting a low sigh escape his lips, the Uchiha flattened himself against the thick limb of the tree, frowning at the algae that was rubbing onto his clothes. Without a doubt his mother would have his head for this.  
Shuffling that bit further forwards, Obito tightened his choke-hold on the branch as the wind whistled through the street, leaving the tree shaking and the cat yowling. Below him, elder Kazumi winced slightly, telling him in that old, motherly tone that he could come down and she'd send for a Genin. The stringing sensation her words brought to his pride was surprising, but could be put down to the old Uchiha ego that was suppose to run in his veins.

"It's okay Kazumi-Chōrō! I'll fetch him! Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be Hokage!" As he wiggled that little bit further until the cat latched onto his sleeve with a vengeance, Obito allowed himself a victory smile, making his way back to the trunk of the tree before carefully sliding down, Kura tucked neatly under his arm.

.

When his feet touched solid ground again, Obito let out a low sigh of relief, carefully placing the cat next to him and watching as it scampered back over to his owner.

"You're such a pleasant boy Obito-kun. That's the third time this month."  
Grinning, the raven haired child just rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck, goggles once again slipping down from his forehead and smacking against the bridge of his nose in a painful collision that he had to forced himself not the wince at. "It's no problem Kazumi-Chōrō," he dashed forwards, snatching the bags from the ground before she could even attempt to pick them up, "I'll carry your bags for you so that Kura doesn't run off again!"  
Even under the weight of her lined cheeks, Kazumi managed to smile back at him, adjusting her hold on the tom cat until he was nestled against her shoulder.

"I don't know what we'll do without you when you become a ninja; we'll all be lost without you Obito-kun."  
Laughing nervously, the goggle clad Uchiha hefted the bags higher up in his hands, ignoring the way the plastic cut into his soft palms, forcing himself to believe they were weights to train with. If he couldn't manage shopping bags, he was nowhere near strong enough to be a ninja yet.

"Don't worry Kazumi-Chōrō, I'll always have time to help out!"

* * *

Elder Kazumi's house was mercifully on the ground floor of a block of steps; he wasn't quite tall enough to start piggy-backing elders. At least, not yet.

"Well, here we are Kazumi-Chōrō!" Carefully placing the woman's shopping upon the doorstep, but off to a side so she wouldn't struggle getting into her own house, Obito offered up another sheepish grin, hands stuffed into his pockets so they didn't hang uselessly at his sides.

"Here little Obito, give me your hand."  
Blinking, the smile slipped from his face and Obito cautiously offered out the requested appendage, already looking through his mind for similar instants. As far as he could remember, there wasn't any.  
So he blinked in surprise when a bag of hard boiled, brightly wrapped sweets were dropped into his palm. Staring at the gift with wide eyes, Obito looked back up at the woman that couldn't be a foot taller than he was, frowning as he did so.

"Huh?"

"It's a thank you, for your help."  
The attempt at clarifying didn't help in any way, and Obito shook his head rapidly, unaware of the fact his goggles dropped down to hang around his neck as he did so.

"I don't need a thank you Kazumi-Chōrō, I don't do it for rewards."

"Which is exactly why I'm giving you these Obito-kun. If only there were more people like you in the world."

* * *

Walking down the worn path that lead to the eastern edge of the village, Obito chewed on the toffee center of one of the sweets he'd been given, mulling over just what the old lady had said. If there were more people like him in the world? Well, it'd be awesome.  
Everyone would be nice, and no one would look down on him. But if there were more of him, then there'd be more competition for Hokage. And his odds weren't great now.

"Hey! You!"  
Obito paused where he was, foot raised to take another step before he slowly turned to look at the source of the voice.  
Leaning casually against the edge of the corner shop wall, a blonde girl his own age stared back, bright blue eyes peering out from under comically raised eyebrows. Tanned skin played host to matching whisker marks, giving her a distinct, fox like appearance. She was dressed in a loose fitting tee-shirt, the village's logo branded upon the material in the same orange shade as her combat shorts. If it wasn't for her long hair, he would have believed her to be a boy.  
She stood, no longer leaning and now standing just an inch below his own height.

"What? I've never seen you before... What do you want with me?"  
Clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth, the girl scooted closer, stuffing her hand into the bag of sweets and plucking one out as she did so, easily ignoring his squeak of annoyance.

"What do I want with you... Honestly I've been considering killing you."  
Even on his death bed, Obito would swear he never screamed like a girl at this very point.

"Don't worry, I decided not to. After all, I do need a rival for the Hokage seat!"

"What?" He stared at the strange girl who just smiled innocently back at him, hands clasped in front of her body as if to prove she wasn't a threat.

"I mean, I'm gonna be Hokage... But I suppose if I'm gonna lose out to anyone, I wouldn't mind if it was you. We'll train together and become stronger together, okay? Because from now on, we're rivals 'ttebayo!"

Watching as the strange girl walked away from him, golden pig-tails bouncing with every step she took, Obito could only pop another sweet into his mouth, completely unaware of the smile that'd crept across his face in the process. Someone wanted to be his rival, to help him train, even if it was some random girl.  
Turning on his heels once he took note of the sunset, -which meant he was out way past curfew- Obito dashed off home, smiling as he went.

"I don't know Kazumi-Chōrō, maybe there are already people like me out there. I think I just met one."

* * *

**I'm sorry, I can't help the plot bunnies, this was just too good to pass up. This is just a prologue, so it's suppose to be shortish I guess.  
Oh and Chōrō means elder.**

******Anyway, hope you'll all like this, it'll be NaruxObito if you don't know yet.**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	2. Part 1,1

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 1.1**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Slouching into his seat, Obito scowled at the Chũnin instructor, sticking out his tongue as he did so. When he'd come bursting in late, the man had slapped him on the back of the head and thrown a few choice words -all of which he'd heard before- at him. This was followed by being dragged by the ear into a seat at the front. It was so fast that he only got a quick scan of the classroom. He managed to locate Rin, who'd been carefully seated by the window, already scribbling away at the test paper with her tongue poking out in concentration. His sweep of the classroom had also managed to locate a painfully familiar head of bright blonde hair, sat right next to a shaggy mane of silver. Before he could eye his almost-killer-turned-rival up, he as pushed down into his seat and forced into looking at the test paper before him. A scowl crossed his face and Obito allowed himself a moment to swear under his breath, ignoring the horrified gasp of the civilian girl beside him.  
He was gonna pass this test without a doubt!

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

At first, the answer had seemed so simple. And no, she wasn't talking about one of the answers upon the test papers. Instead, she was more focused upon how to better the future. The second she'd arrive in Konoha, she'd taken to sniffing around the Uchiha complex like a bloodhound, dodging the suddenly very much alive Uchiha police, and attempting to pick upon the scent that screamed Obito in her head. Whilst the trail she'd found distinctly lacked the scent of tree that his future self had managed to achieve, it was still close enough to Obito's scent she was willing to follow it.  
True to her Jinchūriki senses, she'd found the nine year old helping out a village elder that looked like she'd seen the days before Konoha had even existed. Yes, she'd looked that old.  
Like any good assassin, she'd readied her poisoned kunai, settled into a particular covered patch of tree, and taken aim. But that'd all stopped when she heard his dream. Never in a million years would she have been expecting that. And she'd never admit she'd hesitated just because she saw something in the boys eyes.

When she'd pictured Kakashi's evil mastermind team-mate, she hadn't expected him to act just like her.

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Handing in the test paper, the Uchiha turned to the back of the class, stomping up the stairs till he was stood in front of Kakashi -the prick- and his blonde haired, would be assassin. The Hatake didn't pay him any remote interest; instead focusing solely upon his jutsu scroll and attempting to ignore the majority of eyes looking his way regardless of who it was. His silver hair was held back from his face, already sporting the much sort after forehead protector, metal gleaming brightly even in the standard lightning of the academy. Twin coal orbs stared out bored from under half lidded eyelids, intent on getting the jutsu before him memorised. Yet, Obito couldn't even get a glimpse of the scroll.

"Don't bother, I've been trying to have a look for the past ten minutes. It won't work."  
He turned, scowling at the other occupant of the row. She sat casually, leaning back against the wall behind her and carelessly twirling a strand of golden hair between her fingers.

"And you! You never even told me your name!"  
Blinking those obscenely huge blue eyes, the girl looked up at him before a smile crossed her face, lifting the six whiskers that rested upon her cheeks.

"Hehe, sorry about that. My name's Naruto 'ttebayo!"  
At that, Kakashi snapped his scroll shut, slowly turning to look at the girl beside him.

"Naruto? Just Naruto?" Obito asked, frowning at the attention Naruto was receiving from Kakashi. His silver eyebrows were knitted together above the bridge of his nose, as if trying to recognise just where he'd seen the girl.  
When she nodded in response to his question, he knew not to ask any more questions. There were quite a few ninja, that'd been no named orphans. Some claimed a family name through marriage or making their own up, and some didn't bother at all with it. A prime example of the latter was the great toad sage Jiraiya, who now had several rather grand titles instead of a clan name.

Chewing nervously on his lip at the tense silence that'd lingered around the three, Obito narrowed his eyes as he once again eyed up the girl. She sat back coolly, wiggling her eyebrows at him in a challenge so obvious that he had to stop himself from jumping her and declaring a fight to the death. Instead, her name was called from the Chũnin stood by the door, the guy so absorbed in the clipboards words that he flat out ignored the wrestling that was going on in the front row.  
Offering up some morbid form of a salute, Naruto back-flipped towards the wall, feet pressing against it and eyeing the Chũnin like he was her prey. But instead of springing forth like a fox would to a rabbit, the girl scrambled back up the wall, shooting to the top of the ceiling before calmly making her way to the door, as if telling gravity to get lost and stop controlling her life.  
Every student paused in what they were doing, watching as the girl went, and Obito was no different. Even Kakashi had looked up from his scroll, watching the girl go with widened, but focused eyes that seemed to narrow in concentration as the seconds ticked by.  
Neatly dropping from the ceiling, the blonde girl landed, turning to look at Obito as a grin spread across her face, rounded cheeks indented with the subtlest of dimples. Then, she was gone.

.

Once Naruto left the room, it burst into a buzz of excitement, the occupants discussing the rather advanced -if you didn't count Kakashi- student. Obito had watched her disappear before turning to Kakashi for answers. The Chūnin just snorted, rolling his eyes before turning back to his jutsu scroll, not even bothering to elaborate on the spectacular he'd just witnessed. Sure he came from the Uchiha district, but no child his age had showed off a skill like that before becoming a Genin. Dropping into the seat next to Kakashi, regardless of their dislike for one another, Obito stared hard at the door, as if expecting the blonde girl to reappear at any moment. There were a couple of yelps from the adjacent room, and then the blonde orphan slid back into the room, forehead protector securely wrapped around her skull. Golden bangs framed her tanned cheeks, falling over the blue material. Now that she was stood almost still, he could finally get a good look at her outfit. She wore the same orange cargo shorts that'd blinded him yesterday, but not her body was covered in a tinted fishnet shirt, clad with an open black jacket hanging lazily from her petite shoulders.  
All in all, the outfit made her look small, smaller than what she already was. In fact, she looked more like a doll than a ninja; pretty hair tied up in childishly pigtails and strange whisker marks raised as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You better pass Obito; my rival can't be held back a year, it just doesn't look good on me 'ttebayo!" Flicking the twin snakes of yellow hair back over her shoulders, she took his place next to Kakashi, pulling out a scroll of her own before she began scribbling down all forms of complex characters that had Kakashi sneaking a peek out of the corner of his eyes.  
Scratching his head in annoyance when the characters refused to make any reasonable sense in his mind, Obito plopped back down into another seat, seeing as the blonde had snatched his own the second she'd gotten back.

"What is that?"  
Now Obito didn't have the Sharingan yet, nor did proclaim to be an expert on being able to read people. However, he did notice Kakashi roll his scroll shut, eyeing the blue eyed enigma's own parchment. And he did notice Naruto noticing Kakashi's moves, and the slight smile that tugged at her lips.

"Oh, it's just a little something I was working on with Ero-sensei... I mean... Okay, he was perv, but he's a good teacher, I promise!"  
Both boys looked away for a moment, each wearing a matching, sickened expression as one prayed to the gods his sensei wouldn't be like that, and the other thanked the gods Minato-sensei was a moral man.

"Anyway, he's been teaching me some Fūinjutsu; this scroll is full of all my ideas!"  
Obito caught Kakashi's crest-fallen look, and his mind supplied him with the knowledge that Hatake's sensei was Minato Namikaze, a Fūinjutsu prodigy. And by the scowl shown in Kakashi's eyes, the boy had connected the dots and clearly had a very good idea who would be his kunoichi team-mate.

Shifting nervously about in his chair, Obito let his eyes linger on the doorway, leg bouncing up and down in rapid succession. If Kakashi or Naruto noticed his nervous tick, neither one said anything about it, which in itself was rather odd; Kakashi loved preaching about the rules. Eyeing the silver haired wonder-child that resided on the edges of his vision, Obito frowned.  
The boy's dark, analytical eyes were focused on Naruto's scribbles, scanning across the words repeatedly, as if attempted to decipher the young females chicken-scratch that she attempted to pass off as handwriting.

"Uchiha Obito."  
Jumping at the sound of his name, Obito twisted in his seat, successfully stumbling over his own feet as he did so. The result saw him thrown over his own desk, resting in a heap of Uchiha that had all the other class-mates pointing and laughing at him. Even Rin was giggling ever so slightly behind her hand.  
Shamed tears stung his eyes before a brave few dripped down his cheeks, and Obito pouted at how easily the humiliation effected him.

"Hey, shut up!"  
A brief pause in the laughter occurred, and as Obito dared to risk a glance out the corner of his eye, he spotted Naruto. She'd dropped her scroll, fist raised in the air and one foot upon the table.

"Is that anyway to treat a comrade? He could help save your ass one day! Show a little respect!"  
Beside him, Kakashi had turned to look at the girl, eyes widening slightly in a mixture of surprise and disgust before quickly returning to his scroll, not deeming their little classroom drama worthy of his time.

Unsurprisingly, it was Hanakuso Kao, son of a wealthy merchant, who hit him below the belt with his phrase, "I'd show some respect if he proved himself worthy of that fancy clan name; elite Uchiha shinobi? Yeah right. He doesn't belong in that family."  
There was a sickening crack as skin met skin, the brunette flying back against the wall as Naruto pulled herself up out of the punching stance. He hadn't even seen her move.

"You wanna talk crap about families?! What about me, wanna point out I'm an orphan huh? You're a spoilt brat, there's no way you'll be a shinobi."  
The Chũnin, obviously having had enough of this, took Naruto by the forearms and pulled her back, removing her violent presence from the room. It wasn't until Kakashi nudged him that he remembered his name had been called, and scurried off to the examination room.

* * *

Upon lunch-time, the class was released from the sweaty room, Hanakuso nursing his bruising and most certainly swollen cheekbone as he went.  
Leaping from the stone steps, Obito adjusted the strap on his goggles, tightening so the orange eye-wear rested above the metal. It wasn't difficult to spot Naruto; the girl was nestled beneath the single tree in the yard, seated upon a lowly swig but seemed to be enjoying herself immensely.

"Naruto! I passed!"  
She glance over before offering up a grin that came dangerously close to covering her entire face.  
Before she could respond though, Kakashi appeared next to her, leaning coolly against the tree as he did so. Beneath his arm was two packed lunches and he casually slid one out, offering it up the blonde. He refused to meet her gaze, but quietly mumbled something about an exceedingly tall man with white hair asking to drop it off with her.

"Cool! Ero-sensei is still looking out for me I guess."  
For the brief thirty seconds that had been occupied with Kakashi appearing, Obito remained where he was standing. Kakashi had openly approached his rival -Obito's rival!- and was now sitting with her whilst the two ate. It didn't matter that the silver haired boy's eyes were narrowed, signalling the sour expression that was obviously hidden under his mask. Hell, he probably been put up to this.

Scowling, Obito made his way over, thoughts of returning home for food vanishing from his mind. As he unceremoniously dumped himself next the swig and on the opposite side of Naruto from the silver haired menace, Obito grumpily crossed his arms. It wasn't till three sticks of dango invaded his vision that he flinched back.

"Come'on Obito, you're a shinobi now, and you didn't even pack lunch?"  
His mouth snapped open, ready to defend himself, but was interrupted when one of the sweets was forcibly shovelled between his teeth.

"Eat, I always pack spare anyway. Just lucky Ero-sensei decided to drop this off." It was hard to argue about being force-fed when the dango was dangerously close to being the best he'd ever tried.  
Instead of fighting with the girl, which already felt like an uphill battle, Obito allowed for the babying; even if Kakashi's mocking eyes remained on him throughout all of the dinner.

* * *

**God it's been a while since I updated, and I don't really have an excuse 'sides lack of motivation really. Anyway, hope this chapter is okay, they'll grow longer, I promise. _I hope_.**

**Naruto's intentions will be revealed later I guess. And she isn't planning on seducing Obito, this is the 'dead-last dobe' were's talking about here; she'd never think up a plan so complex... I think...**

**And thank's Velidia, I plan on continuing too ^^ I loved your review; it's what got me writing this next chapter.**

**On a side note, my house currently smells of garlic; we haven't had anything with garlic in it for at least a week... It smells delicious; so hungry.**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	3. Part 1,2

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 1.2**

* * *

**Sakumo**  
**サクモ**

He'd dreamed about it again, that bright orange blur. It'd been little under eight months since he'd witnessed it's presence on that critical mission, and he'd watched it drive off all the enemies in the area, allowing for total completion of the mission... But that didn't ease the questions that swirled within his brain.  
Swinging his legs from the side of the bed, Sakumo Hatake groggily pawed for the alarm clock, grumpy scowl crossing his lips when the mechanical vermin escaped his grasp. Whilst he'd informed the Sandaime of the golden orange blur, none of his team had witnessed it. This had resulted in a choice between forced medical leave, or being put on meds. You can bet which one the hospital hating Sakumo Hatake had chosen.  
As his larger than average hand finally curled around the alarm, the White Fang of Konoha was now wide awake, just enough so to stop himself from throwing the alarm through the window. The floor was cold as his bare feet scraped against it, and for the briefest of moments, he allowed chakra to curl around within the soles, warming the skin and reducing the effect of the cold for the time being. Reaching for that itchy spot just between his shoulder blades, Sakumo let his eyes drift over to the window; if there was one good thing about medical leave, it was easily the ability to sleep in. He'd never been so well-rested before, even with war looming. Which brought him to another little issue; Kakashi was being put on his Genin -even though the boy had long since passed the rank- team today. He rocked back on the balls of his feet, wondering briefly if he should make an appearance before shaking his head; Kakashi had become much more detached now that he was on medical leave. In fact, he wouldn't go out of his way to say the boy was maybe embarrassed by him, ashamed at the worst.  
Pushing the thought away, Sakumo made his way over to the wardrobe, pulling out a loose fitting, blue shirt and matching pants; the typical shinobi gear. There was no point allowing his talents to waste, he'd go pop in on the afternoon academy lessons, teach them something useful in the field, then he'd spend the rest of the day training. Maybe meet Kakashi's team if he ran into them. There was no rush.

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito twitched, rather violently, in his seat. People were staring at him, and he had to force down the voice that screamed that the world wasn't playing fair. His new team-mates looked at him, blue and grey eyes widened with different forms of shock; one of bewilderment and one of horror, respectively.

"Wait, why is Obito-baka paired up with those two! They're awesome and need an equally awesome team-mate, not some loser like Obito-baka!"  
The goggle wearing boy shrunk into his seat, frowning as he did so. As their sensei calmed the student, explaining the 'dead last to top student' ratio, Obito stiffened when he felt a weight settle upon his shoulders. He looked to his right to see Naruto has casually shuffled closer to him, having thrown an arm over his shoulders in a half-hearted embrace.

"I'm not so good at this comforting thing okay. Normally I'd just beat the crap out of them... You get bullied a lot." Subtly was not one of Naruto's strong points, clearly, but at least she was trying.  
Sinking a bit further into his chair, Obito let the names of the other team be called out, watching as Rin got placed with a Hyūga and another civilian kid.

"You're like I was... People hated me back home." Naruto let out a quite laugh, ignoring Obito's staring. Even Kakashi had looked over at the remark, eyebrows narrowed in confusion. She pulled her arm back towards her, curling the appendage over her stomach whilst the other hand cradled her head, elbow propped up on the desk. "But it looks like we're on the same team together, that's cool. I haven't worked with anyone my age before, this'll be awesome."  
The raven haired boy twitched slightly, frowning at the girl's words. '_Never worked with anyone your own age before? What the hell has she been doing before then?!_'

"You've been taught by someone before Minato-sensei, haven't you Naruto?" Kakashi seemed to have been wondering down the same trail of thought, for his dark eyes were now focused upon their kunoichi team-mate. She smiled, lips twisting up in a fox like grin as her eyes dropped shut. Laughing, she rubbed lightly against the back of her neck, sheepishly turning back to the two.

"If we eat together for dinner, I'll share what I've got, but you have to buy me a bowl each!"  
Feeling the money in his pocket start burning, Obito did his best not to pout.  
Naruto and Kakashi had now turned their attention back to the front, eyes just as hollow as the other. The blonde was ignorant of his observation and the way she drummed her fingers on the wooden desk as she eyed the door, not like a rat looking for escape, but more like an eagle eyed its prey. The muscle of her right thigh twitched, knee pointing towards the door and foot shifting slightly till it was almost around the chair leg. Every movement she made, even if it was just a small twist of lips, an extra flutter of eyelids or the slow meeting of blonde brows, each movement screamed out to him, bolder than Gai's bodysuit. He'd never been so curious about a person before, but when someone claims to have considered killing you, it does make one pay a bit more attention.  
So focused upon his observations of his blonde team-mate, Obito found himself leaping out of his skin when the bell rang.

"Yes, ramen time! Let's go!"

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

In all honestly, he wasn't quite sure what to feel when it came to his team-mates. Kakashi often went out of his way to avoid feeling anything -shinobi rule 25- but his curiosity was piqued. Though it was only a mild, silent puddle in the middle of the night in regards to the bumbling Uchiha, Naruto was completely different; the curiosity she'd stirred could be compared to the Nidaime's water dragon jutsu.  
With his hands stuffed into the pocket of his off-black slacks, Kakashi allowed his eyes to narrow in the direction of the girl. Unlike every other newcomer that came into the village -and he was sure she was new, because he'd certainly never seen her bold figure before- she knew exactly where she was going. Unless she was a genius on the same standing of him, she shouldn't have been able to acclimatise herself to the village in the few measly days she'd been present. If it wasn't for the way she looked at a few select streets or alleys in complete, misguided confusion, he would have never believed she hadn't been born into the village.  
As they began passing down main-street, she looked at a little, run down building situated with desperate longing in her eyes, staring at the sign that hung over to the sealed entrance. '_Ichiraku ramen, coming soon_'.  
Suppressing a snort, because ninja's never showed their amusement, Kakashi allowed the information to be filed away inside of his brain, turning back to Naruto. She walked with a spring in her step, head bobbing slightly from side to side and blonde pigtails snapping a half second after her skull. She was talking animatedly to Obito, making exaggerated hand gestures as she told him of a simple retrieval mission, and the demon cat that'd been he target. Everything about her was loud, from her voice, to her hair colour and choice in clothing. Every movement seemed to scream out to him, from the simple way her right hand jerked slightly to her faster than average footsteps. She was shorter than both he and Obito, which was unusual; girls were suppose to be taller at this age as far as he was aware.  
Suddenly, she turned off to the right, leading the two of them into a BBQ joint that was a rather famous favourite of the Akimichi family. Obito frowned a bit, looking over at a bakery with unsuppressed wistfulness. He didn't get long to do so though, Naruto's arm appearing around the door frame, snatching up a good portion of the Uchiha jacket and pulling, reeling Obito in. Watching as the raven haired Uchiha disappeared behind the curtains, Kakashi let out a low sigh, wondering at the chances they'd have of passing Minato's test. Naruto walked like a ninja, had some skills as a ninja, but against her loudness?  
Maybe he wouldn't have to put up with them after all.

.

Shifting in his seat, Kakashi frowned, looking down at the menu was barely hidden discontent. Naruto had pulled them into a booth, but not before spotting Asuma and Kurenai. Now, the five of them were crowded around a table only meant for four, perusing the menu as the waiter before them twitched.

"I don't even know why I'm reading this!" Once again, it was Naruto's loud voice that broke the silence, the blonde slamming her menu upon the table before turning to look the waiter in the eye. "Just get me three bowls of miso, extra pork!" She eyed both of her team-mates, silently reminding them that they would be paying for a bowl each.  
Kurenai was staring shocked at Naruto, looking back to her menu before quietly ordering a helping of takowasa. In silent agreement, both himself and Asuma asked for the restaurants usual meat, vegetables, rice and noodles speciality, with Obito joining their order after a seconds thought.  
As the waiter made a hasty exit, Naruto instantly turned on Asuma and Kurenai,wild grin spreading across her face that would have had any non ninja squirming in their seat.

"So, are you two just friends, or were you here on a date?"  
Kakashi's brows slowly came together, watching as Kurenai spluttered and Asuma's face began to take on a red tint. Not entirely sure as to why they would be on a date together, Kakashi turned to look at Naruto, noticing that Obito was coping his movements from the corner of his eye.

"No Naruto-chan," Kurenai shifted in her seat again, attempting to hide her reddening cheeks behind her hands, "we're just here to get some food. We're friends."  
The blonde snorted, rolling her eyes before taking a whiff of the air.

"Just friends, sure you-" she abruptly cut off as a bowl was placed before her, snapping the chopsticks in her hands apart before attacking the bowl.  
There was no other way to describe it other than a jutsu gone horribly wrong, disaster was imminent, but Kakashi just couldn't look away. She devoured the ramen like a hungry orphan that'd spent days on the streets, messily assaulting the noddles. The most disturbing part was perhaps the fact not a single droplet of broth hit the table, all of it was surely inhaled. Naruto had finished her first bowl before the waiter had finished presenting them with all their food. He looked over at her, startled, before placing the other two bowls down and rushing away least he be eaten too.  
Unsurprisingly, every other Genin at the table was staring at her in barely concealed horror, Obito having dropped his chopsticks.

"What the hell was that?" He hissed, coal eyes widening as Naruto gobbled down all the broth, slurping up the last of the noodle before grinning.

"I love ramen, haven't been able to have it since I was travelling."

"What's your skill set?"  
Naruto actually paused, a collecting of noodles from her third bowl hanging from her mouth. She cocked her head to a side, ignoring the way her food splashed at her cheeks. As the noodles began to recede into the depths of her mouth, Naruto's eyebrows met above her nose, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"I suck at Genjutsu," she finally murmured, rubbing sheepishly at the back of her neck and clearly not giving away everything, "I'm pretty awesome at Ninjutsu and Taijustu, and I've spent two years on Fūinjutsu. I pick that stuff up quicker than the rest though."  
Sitting back and slowly going over the fact she was skilled in almost all areas, Kakashi ignored the annoyed face Asuma was sending his way, Obito eating on and completely unaware Kakashi had taken advantage of Naruto's distracting behaviour and had eaten himself. The silver haired teen kept his eyes on Naruto, chewing on his lip in thought before allowing his shoulders to relax. Clearly he'd find out just how skilled she was later today.  
That was, if she didn't explode from all the ramen she was eating first.

* * *

**Sorry about the wait, I know it's been a month, and I know I'm slow. Sorry.  
I really, really hope I'll be able to start writing longer chapters, or at least, make them quicker. **

**So, Naruto pulls the team out, weighing them up, much in the same way Kakashi is. And Sakumo is alive, wonder who had something to do with that?**

**Anyway, thank you so much for all the reviews/alerts/favs, it's ridiculous how this has the third most alerts out all all my stories. I think this'll be the story were I aim for a 1000 reviews, that's my ultimate goal as an author on here! Thank you all so much!**

**And if you could vote in the poll, I'd be hugely grateful.**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	4. Part 1,3

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 1.3**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito twitched. The three of them -he and his team-mates- were sat upon the academy roof, staring at their sensei. Obviously only Kakashi had met him before, but Naruto held what he thought was vague recognition in her eyes, because she didn't seem so shocked that they looked exactly alike. Minato was staring at her, eyes wide and mouth open slightly.

Finally, after multiple seconds of gaping at the girl, he managed to splutter out; "You've stole my face."  
Naruto just laughed, a throw your head back, deep throated laugh. Kakashi was frowning, looking between the two with deep sated suspicion behind his eyes. Obito couldn't really say he wasn't doing the same thing, the two looked extraordinarily alike.

"But you've got to admit, I wear it better."  
Minato did laugh then, reaching over and rubbing at the girl's matching blonde hair before returning to his railing seat.

"Okay then, let's introduce ourselves. Face-stealer can go first."  
Looking up with her stolen blue eyes, Naruto offered up a foxy grin, rolling her shoulders back before thrusting one arm out, thumb pointing up at the sky whilst her fingers were curled into a fist.

"My name's Naruto! I'm nine years old. I like travelling, training and eating ramen! I hate the three minutes you have to wait for the instant ramen to boil, and my dream? That's to become the greatest Hokage of all time 'ttebayo!" There was a brief silence as Naruto's proclamation sunk in. Obito knew her dream, he know she wanted to be Hokage, just like he himself did. What he wasn't expecting was for Minato-sensei to burst out laughing, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Oh god, you sounded just like Kushina, you've even got a verbal tick and everything!"

There was stunned silence as Naruto stared at her new sensei, eyebrows drawn together and lips puckered. Briefly, she blinked, before shaking her head; "I have no idea who you're on about."  
Kakashi only looked mildly amused, whilst Obito himself snickered into his hand, though he did shrink back when Minato's icy blue eyes turned to him.

"Okay then, goggles, you go next." A scowl set into Obito's face, watching as both Kakashi and Naruto amused themselves with his new name in their own little way. He wasn't cool like Naruto, he couldn't just brush off anything that came his way, even if he did try to keep up a happy front at time. And he wasn't emotionless like Kakashi and the rest of his clan, the stoic façade just didn't fit on his face, it always ended up slipping off one way or another.

"My name's Obito Uchiha! I like dango and my baby cousin Itachi! I don't like idiots with foot long poles shoved up their backside, and my dream is to be the greatest Hokage!" Finishing his rant, Obito sent a glare at Naruto, snapping his goggles down over his eyes and trying to ignore the way she just laughed him off. "Happy Blondie?"  
Said Blondie scowled, leaning back on the railings a bit more before turning to his little protégée.

"And snowy." Kakashi was defiantly scowling under that mask, Obito was sure.

"Kakashi Hatake. And the rest is none of your business."  
Shifting in the cold atmosphere Kakashi had summoned up, Minato sighed, rubbing at the back of his head.

"Okay then, I'm Minato Namikaze, next in line for Hokage." Both Obito and Naruto's heads snapped around to look at him, but the blond just laughed it off. "I like my girl-friend, and her cooking. That and training, obviously. It's not that I don't like my sensei, but I am ashamed of his behaviour at times. And my dream? Well, I'm almost there! But I am glad to have team-mates that share my dream. From today onwards, I'll be your superior! Now, meet me at training ground four tomorrow at seven thirty sharp! And, erm... Go do some bonding I guess."

* * *

**Minato**  
**ミナト**

Distantly, Minato could hear one of his new students laughing at him, a full, blown out laugh, the kind he only ever heard from one man. The very man he was currently spluttering at.

"What do you mean you adopted her?"

"It means what it means, I've raised her from a tadpole." Jiraiya's bulky form loomed over him, the blond Jōnin now sprawled across the sage's couch. Naruto was sat frowning over her latest scroll of Fūinjutsu, but was paying special attention to the two men before her.

"For nine years?" He couldn't quite wrap his head around it. His sensei had always expressed his distaste for small children and the process of raising them. The fact that the man himself had done so, it just wasn't being processed in the blonds brain.

"Six years, I took her in when she was three."

"What possessed you?" Running a hand through his hair, Minato sent his student an apologetic smile, watching as she shrugged half-heartedly before returning to her musing, obviously quite okay with the way he was grilling her adopted parent.

"I don't know. Maybe it was something in her eyes? The blonde hair reminded me of you, so that may have been a factor-"

"or perhaps it was the whacking great big seal on my stomach that was keeping me alive?"

"-that may have also played a factor, but it was mainly the hair. That and women love a man who can look after kids!"  
Dropping back into his seat after smacking his sensei over the head, Minato turned to look at his newest student. Whilst her seal was officially confidential, she'd eventually share it with him, right? The blonde girl was scribbling away again, tongue stuck out and twisted to the right slightly.  
Jiraiya's house was just as impressive as when the sage had last been in town, if you ignored the coating of dust that was. The man had spent a handful of years running around the globe, gathering contacts and information. To think he'd been raising -albeit half-heartedly- a child at the same time was almost incomprehensible. Naruto was now humming under her breath, flicking her scroll shut and handing it over to her only family, smirking at the white haired man.

"Let's see you figure that one out!"

"You know I'll manage it Naruto,"

"But it'll take longer than the last time! Way longer! I'm off to train!"  
And the blonde leap to her feet, dashing up and out of the open window with a small salute as a fair-well.

As he watched the bundle of energy go, he turned back to Jiraiya, raising a delicate blond brow.

"You adopted that? Really? Tsunade I could expect, but you?"

"She's tough Minato, hasn't had parents since she was a day old. See me and my ninja ways and demands I train her. She followed me a good ten miles before I even realized she was behind me. You just don't let talent like that slip away."

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito had been sat waiting for Rin. He was absolutely sure she'd turn up sooner or later, she loved dango without fail she always turned up for a mid-afternoon snack.

"You're wasting your time." He frowned, looking upwards to see Naruto, hanging from the ceiling much the same way she'd done in the classroom. Scowling, Obito leapt to his feet, glaring up at the girl, even if there was a good foot between their heads.

"Oh yeah? You don't even know what I'm doing here!"

"Actually I do, you're waiting for Rin to turn up. Tough luck, she's on a survival test, it'll last all through the night." She dropped onto the ground, whether it was from the store owner glaring at her, or the blood rushing to her head, he wasn't quite sure.

"Now come one, we're going to go and train. I'll show you how to climb like I did if you promise not to do anything stupid."

"I won't!" She turned back, whiskered cheeks raised in a smug smile.

"So you're not planning to spend all night outside training?"  
His silence was all-telling, and Naruto grinned back at him.

"Knew it. Let's go."

* * *

She'd brought him to a little woodland area, away from all the hustle and bustle of civilian life, but not quite into the dangerous waters of senior shinobi's in training. It was very carefully balanced, and Obito frowned. Because the blonde seemed to be looking around for something, scratching her head in the process.

"Huh, guess it's not here... Anyway, we're gonna climb some trees, without our hands. Take a run, chakra to the tree, and bam, sticky ninja."  
If anyone else would have taught him this, Obito was sure it would be an explanation full of big, meaningless words that would have just had him losing interest. Naruto was sharp, straight to the point, even the challenging smirk made him want to do better, to show her up. Because hell, if she thought she could kill him, then he clearly needed to get better. If only to defend himself. Because this team-mate was either a psycho in disguise, or had a split personality. She was currently swaying from foot to foot, whistling tunelessly whilst still managing to maintain a great big grin.

"Come'on, you're not scared are you?"  
With a battle-cry, Obito took off towards the tree, running as fast as his feet could carry him. Instantly, he was vertical, chakra grasping uselessly for a foothold. He managed three steps before gravity caught up with him, dragging him back down to earth with a thump. Groaning, Obito forced one eye open, peeking out. Naruto was outlined by the afternoon sun, mirth in her eyes and lips twitching as they were forced to remain in an impassive line.

"You know, it might go better if you get your chakra ready before diving at the tree like that. Otherwise you won't have much of a back left to work with."

"I knew that!" Hopping to his feet, Obito scowled, shuffling back a few pacing from the tree. Instantly he was drawing the energy from within him, watching as Naruto jogged halfway up the tree. She peered down at him, sticking her tongue out in a taunting gesture.

"Oh it's so on!" Dashing forwards, Obito managed a grand total of six steps before he was back on the ground, this time having landed correctly, body crouched low against the earth.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Naruto grinned down at him, and in a breath so low he almost missed it, she whispered, "maybe sensei was right about the rivalry thing."

* * *

**I'm so horribly sorry this took so long, I'd lost motivation with this story, but didn't want to get rid of it in case it came back. Anyway, it's back now, and I'll try to get another update done soon.  
Super, super sorry. **

**And if you could vote in the poll, I'd be hugely grateful.**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	5. Part 1,4

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 1.4**

* * *

**Rin**  
**リン**

Adjusting the strap that ran across her shoulder blades, Rin blinked ever so slowly, staring at the empty bench that was resting outside of her favourite dango shop. She in no way had any particular attachment to this bench, it was after all, just a few pieces of wood thrown together to create a seat of reasonable quality. No, what was so unusual about this bench was that it was empty.  
For as many days as she could remember, that bench had been the perch of one Obito Uchiha, whom would wait valiantly for her, so that they could share dango together. She wasn't particularly close to him, nor did she house any romantic interests in the raven haired boy. But the deviation from the usual routine was... Startling.

Shrugging away those thoughts, the Nohara seated herself before ordering up her usual. She wasn't going to let Obito's absence bother her. It was just one odd-ball day. They were on separate teams, he could be getting tested as she sat here, eating. There would be no routine now that they were both ninjas, and there was a war going on.  
There wouldn't be much time left for dango now.

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

It was the day after their first ever meeting as a team. Minato-sensei had asked them to meet up by the Nanmen bridge. Of course, when he'd walked past elder Saori, he'd been unable to simply ignore the woman and continue on with his journey.  
Once he'd helped the elderly woman to her son's house -much could be said about the man's bemused expression- he'd dashed off as fast as he could.

As expected, the three members of his team were already present.  
Kakashi was leaning against the worn red railings, a look of discontent upon his face -well, in his eyes truthfully- and his arms folded, body screaming of anti-social behaviour. As if to balance out the team, Naruto was sat upon the railings beside the silver haired boy, swinging her legs back and forth whilst whistling tunelessly through her lips. Her fingers drummed against the wood, head bopping from side to side, ponytails snapping side to side with the movement. She was so loud and bright against Kakashi's dark and silent nature and Obito stumbled. Because where did he fit in on this team?  
Kakashi was a genius, Naruto was clearly quite talented, and Minato was the Fourth-Hokage to be!  
They all had some form of promising future, and he was just, just Obito.

"Obito. Why are you late?"  
Skidding to a halt in front of his sensei, the raven haired Uchiha stared up at the blond before blushing nervously.

"I was walking elder Saori to her son's house, I couldn't just leave her in the street!"  
A hand came down on his head, ruffling at the black hair and Obito only just managed to look up from Minato's attack to catch his team-mates faces. Kakashi clearly thought he was lying, but Naruto's face confused him. Because her little nose had scrunched up, eyebrows twisting together and a puzzled frown had crossed her features.  
Yet, before he could fully analyse her expression, it was gone from her face, smile now as bright as the sunshine overhead.

.

"Okay team, today we're gonna get our first mission. Nothing too big, but we will be going outside of the village."

"Outside sensei?" Naruto had cocked her head to a side, little smile upon her face as she leapt down from the railings. The oversized black jacket that hung around her shoulders fluttered slightly, as if made of a lighter material than it looked to be before falling around her frame once again. She'd pocketed one hand in those blinding orange shorts, grinning as the other hand scratched at a whiskered cheek. "Come on grumps," she elbowed Kakashi in the ribs, ignoring the way in which he glared at her head and Obito found himself smiling along to her mayhem.

"Let's go team!"  
Pumping a fist into the air, Naruto took off running, leaping up the sides of buildings before dashing across the roofs, little more than a speck in the distance moments later.

"She does know we're off to the Hokage's office, right?" Minato rubbed at his neck sheepishly, looking to his remaining students for support.

Kakashi sighed, walking off in the general direction of the Hokage's office, but not before calling over his shoulder, "one hopes so."

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen was seated behind his sturdy wooden desk, one hand supporting his head and the other fiddling with the pipe half sat, half hanging from his mouth. Unexpectedly, Naruto had perched herself on the corner of his desk, flipping through a file that'd clearly been meant for Minato. The elder blond was currently staring, quite openly, at his young charge, a distinct air of shame hanging around his form.

"Hokage-sama, I'm so sorry."

"It doesn't matter Minato, I've known Naruto long before she came to stay within the village."  
The blonde looked up at her name before smiling, throwing the folder to Kakashi who caught it effortlessly. She seemed completely at ease with her current position, and Obito mentally made note to expect the unexpected with her. Because no one else dared to disrespect the Hokage like this.

"You're not gonna be like this when I'm Hokage right?" It seemed like Minato was dancing along the same thought he was, because the Jōnin was frowning at Naruto. Well, actually it was more of a pout than anything else.

"Pfft, I'm not gonna change at all." She grinned, leaping to her feet before stuffing her hand into the bowl of candy upon Sarutobi's desk. She pulled out three treats, throwing one to Obito and another to Kakashi.

.

Instead of snapping at her for her behaviour, Sarutobi just shook his head, rolling his eyes up to the heavens, as if praying for patience.

"We're fetching supplies... These villages aren't even a day's walk away," Kakashi grumbled, handing the folder up to Minato and ignoring Obito's squawk at being left out on the information. Naruto was rocking back on her heels now and Obito watched her with critical eyes, observing the way that her cheeks puckered.

"I'm allowed another one, right?" Naruto spoke around the hard candy in her mouth, snatching up another from the bowl before Sarutobi could say otherwise. She popped that one into her mouth too, cheeks rounding under the pressure and Obito chuckling at her face. She was clearly doing this on purpose, and judging by Kakashi's unamused face, the silver haired genius knew it too.

"Okay then, let's go start this mission before one of you gets sent back to the academy." Minato's grumbles brought Obito's attention away from Naruto and back to their current issue, specifically this two day long mission.

"Head home, pack up, and meet at the gates in ten minutes."

* * *

Stuffing a blanket into the depths of his pack, Obito narrowed his eyes.

"Why are you here again?"

Naruto was sat upon one of the cushions within the main room, his baby cousin nestled in her arms. A tender smile, one he'd never seen her sporting before, was smeared across her face as she stared down at Itachi's small form. She reached out, brushing a tuff of black hair back from his forehead before turning her attention back to Obito.

"Because I'm already packed. I've got everything I need in a scroll, because I'm cool like that."  
His aunt Mikoto was seated next to Naruto along side his mother, and both women where sending Naruto approving glances. Itachi was very picky about who held him, even more so about who he was with when he fell asleep.

Currently, their future clan head was out cold, curled up in the warmth of Naruto's arms. His head was pressed up against the soft junction between Naruto's shoulder and collar bone, one hand tight on the tinted mesh shirt she wore. Her jacket had been discarded upon entering Obito's home, along with her shoes. Mainly to be polite, which Obito didn't understand. Naruto didn't show the Sandaime any respect, but here she was the perfectly little girl.  
He simply did not get her.

"I can't believe you have such a brilliant kunoichi on your team Obito-chan," Mikoto murmured, handing him a packed bento for the journey. The two women seemed to have already been informed of his mission and had taken the time out of their lives to pack each of their team up with a lunch. There was even one for Minato-sensei, which Obito hadn't understood at first. It wasn't until Naruto explained it to him, in a hushed whisper of '_They're trying to win favour with the future Hokage, by having you on his team, that makes things easier_' that he finally understood. He wasn't sure whether to be pleased about this fact or not.

"Don't forget a spare pair of underwear."

"Mother!" Obito blushed, chewing on his lip as Naruto burst out into a fit of girly giggles. His mother had clearly said that just to get a laugh from Naruto, and it'd worked.

.

The blonde stood up, still gently rocking Itachi back at fourth as Mikoto looked on in absolute adoration at the whiskered girl. Everyone just seemed to like her, and Obito wasn't quite sure why. All he knew was that he needed some of whatever it was.

"Be safe, don't cause too much mischief Obito."

"Don't worry, he won't get a chance," Naruto nodded seriously along as she spoke, handing the still sleeping Itachi back to Mikoto and pocketing her hands, "I'll be the one causing the trouble."  
Both women laughed, seeing the two to the door as Obito adjusted the straps of his back-pack.

"Look out for one another and if you do see an enemy ninja, run. Remember, you're only Genin, you won't be able to deal with Jōnin yet."  
Obito nodded, looking at Naruto who was stood on the edge of his vision. She was nodding along to his mother's warning, but her eyes told a different story. A definite 'that's what you think' ideal. Either Naruto was seriously big headed about her abilities, or she could back it up.  
Knowing her, it was probably a bit of both.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. Let's go."

.

Walking through the Uchiha compound felt different with Naruto at his side. She was looking around the place, awe in her eyes at all the different people that passed them by. Her coat was back on now, hands thrust into the deep pockets as she trampled forwards, merry tune slipping through her lips in the form of a high pitched whistle. A few people greeted the two of them, somewhat hesitant as the walked along, and Naruto would always cut off her tune in order to reply with a casual greeting of her own. She just seemed to be happy all the time, like she didn't have a switch to turn the happy off.

They were already late by five minutes, but Naruto didn't seemed too bothered by that, instead still making her way casually through the bustling streets of Konoha. Even with the war currently burning at the edges of the border, it hadn't hit the main village yet, so for now life went on as normal.  
The blonde seemed quiet content with this, and appeared to want to spend as long as she could browsing the streets. And whilst Obito dearly wished to dash off and not disappoint Minato-sensei, his mother, or maybe Naruto, would kill him if he left her on her own. Especially now they'd already started walking together.

"Okay, come on, you've got to be enjoying this right?" Naruto was speaking now, and Obito snapped back into the world, watching as she gestured to the different shops, and possibly, Konoha in general. "It's a hell of a lot more lively than my village was."

"Yeah, but we've got a mission to do."

"No need to rush Obito," Naruto paused to brush her bangs back from her face, adjusting her headband as she did so, "if this war gets worse, we won't get time to enjoy this till it's over. We could lose our friends out there. I-I wanna just enjoy it while I can. Until the war's over."  
She sounded so grown up. Nothing like a nine year old at all.

Obito chewed on his lip, silently nodding but saying nothing more. She was such an oddity, and at times, he couldn't think of anything to say to her. Because she came out with some of the strangest things he'd ever heard. Sometimes she was as hyper-active as a child on a sugar high, and other times, it was like she'd seen far too much of the world already. And that was more confusing than Obito would like to admit.

"Look! The gates!" Naruto grabbed onto his hand, pulling him along as she took off running, laughing as she went.

.

Minato-sensei didn't seem too bothered about the fact they'd shown up so late, especially when Naruto explained she'd been helping put Itachi to sleep. Kakashi on the other hand, was not happy. In fact, he was on a completely opposite spectrum of emotions to Naruto, which only seemed to range from emotionless to grumpy.

"Nothing is more important than the mission! We've been given a task, and you could have already messed it up by being late." The silver haired boy was glaring down at Naruto and her short stature, but the blonde didn't seem intimidated at all. She just laughed, scratching at her stomach before shrugging.

"What? Is the rice gonna leave us for Iwa if we don't get there first?"  
Obito snickered whilst Minato just snorted, the latter gently slapping both squabbling children on the backs of their skulls.

"Come on you two. We're a team now, let's get along. A few minutes won't hurt. Now let's get going."

* * *

The sun presented a warm blanket that rested upon the back of Obito's neck as they walked, and though he sorely wished he could turn his collar upwards, he refused to look like the rest of his clan in that respect. Sunburn it was.

Minato's skin, from what Obito could see from his short vantage point, was already starting to redden, but Naruto was just tanning. Kakashi, well Kakashi was wearing a mask, so he didn't count in this equation. They were heading to the town of Kinyuuki first, and they'd be stopping by the town of Hōchi on the way back. It was a nice mission that'd ease them into the work of a ninja, or at least, that's what Minato had stated.

.

So far along, Naruto had been silent throughout their journey, for what Kakashi probably considered a blissful thirty minutes. All she had done was walk along two steps behind them at all times, with a face that told everyone she was stewing over some thought of great importance. No one had dared to ask what it was, but Obito had sent Minato a worried look.

"Minato-sensei?"  
The elder blond paused, turning to look at the team's kunoichi before smiling.

"Yeah Naruto-chan?"

"Why are we at war?"  
Obito blinked, looking just as surprised as what Kakashi did. Even their sensei didn't seem to have been expecting the question, for he spluttered a bit before gathering his composure again.

"Well Naru-chan, it was building gradually. Some of the smaller nations began fight amongst themselves first, mostly over little, petty things, before it began to grow into a gradual number of skirmishes about borders. At some point, they decided that they needed a bit more land, and that it would be a good idea to challenge the great nations. I'm not quite sure which one it was to begin with, but soon enough, it became apparent that everyone wanted a piece of land from other countries. It wasn't till Iwa infiltrated Kusagakure to lay siege to our borders that it really began to become serious though. Suna took this as a threat because Kusagakure is so close by, there's only Amegakure between them, so that's how they became involved. The fight with Kumo is starting to slow now thankfully, though it's not completely cold on that front yet."  
Naruto was frowning now, running a hand across her face and a clear look of distress on her features.

"I don't understand. Why are we fighting over boarders? Why can't we just be happy with what we've got? Why do we need more?"  
It was a valid question.

They had stopped now, Minato dropping his back-pack and seating himself on it, copying Naruto gesture of running his hand along his face.

"I don't know Naruto, I don't even know how it built up to this."  
Obito had sat himself down by now too, pulling out the bento's that Mikoto had given him, handing them out accordingly. Naruto cracked open her own, fiddling about with the chopsticks until she'd managed to shovel a rice-ball into her mouth.

.

They ate in awkward silence, no one knowing quite what to say, but not wanting to change the subject from something so serious to a better, light hearted topic. Whilst they ate, Obito watched Naruto, took in every little movement she made, noticed how she let out a heavy sigh and chewed on her food with a little less vigour than usual.  
Finally, after swallowing a rather large mouthful, she spoke again.

"When I'm Hokage, there's gonna be peace. I'll make sure it happens, or I'll die trying."  
Minato looked up, placing his chopsticks within the empty bento box before offering up a sad smile. Even Kakashi had stopped staring off into the distance for a moment, eyeing his blonde team-mate in an almost suspicious manner.

"Maybe Naruto... But don't get your hopes up too much, okay?" Minato reached out to ruffle the girl's hair, but she ducked the hand, sealing her empty bento box in the same move before smoothly standing up.

"Don't dismiss it! I will break the cycle of hatred! Watch me!" And the blonde took off walking again, hands in her pockets and seemingly not paying any attention to whether her team followed or not.

Minato sent Obito the most helpless of looks, as if asking for advice, but all Obito could do was shrug. Because Naruto seemed convinced that she could do it. And whilst that might be a very big goal, a very big dream, Obito could almost see it.

And maybe, just maybe, Naruto would let him help her out.  
Because peace sounded quite nice round about now.

* * *

**This chapter has now been edited, so there are fewer mistakes and thus making for better reading. Enjoy!**

Once again, I'm sorry, super, super sorry about this taking so long. I feel brain dead at the moment, my mind just doesn't want to work this year. I'm not quite sure why, but I hope it'll reboot itself soon, because this is starting to get annoying.

**.**

**For anyone reading this, thank you for sticking by it, and honestly, I'll try my damn hardest to either update sooner or make the updates longer and more worthwhile.  
Honestly, which would you prefer? 4000 wordish chapters, or possibly quicker updates? Speak to me people!**

.

**In other news, thank you all so much for all the reviews, over 100 for just four measly 2000 word chapters? I'm honoured and flattered and I'm feeling pretty ashamed the updates are taking so long.  
Sorry, again. **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	6. Part 1,5

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 1.5**

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

He was a genius. And as such, it wasn't difficult to notice the notches in the girl's behaviour.  
Drawing one set of fingers along the straps of his back-pack, Kakashi eyed Naruto wearily. She was an orphan, brought into the village during war time and she seemed to have a set of exceptional skills for a child of her age. Forgive him if that doesn't sound suspicious. He would only need a moment alone with Minato to share his thoughts, but he trusted in his Hokage; if the Sandaime stated the girl was safe, then who was he to judge? Kakashi was just there to follow orders after all.

For the past ten or so minutes, the blonde girl had been steaming ahead, leading the way and seemingly not bothered by the punishing pace she was setting. Even as small as she was, the girl could clearly stride, and Kakashi wouldn't damage his pride by running to keep up with her. Thus, both he and Obito were tiring quickly, while Minato just chuckled under his breath. Being a child was inefficient, his limbs were too short for travelling great distances, and his body tired too easily. Naruto must have had some splendid training, because she didn't seem too effected by her determined tempo.

"Come on Naruto-chan, slow down a bit now." Minato seemed to have picked up on the problem his two boys were suffering from, because he'd clamped a hand upon the girl's shoulder and forcibly brought her to a grinding halt. A frown marred Naruto's face but she nodded, chewing upon her lip and Kakashi failed to resist rolling his eyes. Obito was bent over double beside him, huffing and puffing for air as he braced himself, arms pressing into his legs. And whilst Kakashi wasn't that undignified, he was most certainly becoming short of breath.

"I think that we'll make camp here, we've been given four day's for this mission, and we're on the outskirts of Kinyuuki right now. Might as well get some training in. But if you are gonna travel into town, go together. All of you." A meaningful glance was sent between the three Genin before their sensei ran his hands along a scroll, a sleeping bag jumping free of the parchment.

"Weak," Naruto snorted with a grin, drawing out her own scroll and running a bloodied thumb across the scribbles. A fully set-up tent burst to life, complete with roaring fire, cooking pot and log seat.  
Stood between both Kakashi and Obito, Minato-sensei blinked, staring before he smiled approvingly.

"Self activating seals on the tent let out the fire and log, and whatever else is in there right? That scroll's only got the tent inside it, everything else is sealed into the fabric of the tent, set to release upon contact with oxygen."

"You got me," Naruto held up her hands in mock surrender, grinning teasingly before sticking her tongue out at the three of them.

"But hey, ramen for dinner?"

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Rubbing a hand across her tender stomach -Ero-sensei's wake up punches were not gentle at all- Naruto let her eyes slowly drift across the faces of the three males around her. It was surreal. Here she was, twenty one years in the past sitting post-dinner with her father, sensei and enemy.  
After a moment of deliberation, her eyes settled upon Obito's form. She was painfully aware how very much alike they were, like a reflection of one another's child-hood. Outcasted and yet, so determined to become Hokage. To get acknowledged, to get the same respect that was already given to everyone else. Hell, the both of them even had the same fondness for orange.

Scowling and scratching at her cheek, Naruto slumped down off the log, resting upon the ground before leaning back against her original seat. Her father seemed to like the idea, because he copied her movements not a moment later, leaning back and letting out a content sigh. Off to the side, Naruto managed to clock Kakashi standing, heading over to the only clear part of the clearing where he began to run through a set of kata's. That was another thing, it was so strange seeing her sensei as a bratty child. He'd once informed her of his behaviour, but never once had she believe he'd actually been this bad. Now, seeing with her own eyes, she had the greatest desire to have him join the 'I got the sense beaten into me by Naruto' club. As the founding members, Neji and Gaara would probably have accepted the silver haired child with open arms.

Upon the thought, Naruto found her shoulders slouching, a frown smearing across her face. Already she'd been through the panic attack, but just because she'd sort of accepted her situation it didn't make it any easier. What if by coming back here, she'd sentenced all of her generation and beyond to death? Or worse, never existing at all.  
Even if the future was bleak before, they'd still managed to live sixteen to seventeen years of healthy, possibly happy existence. Who was she to ruin that? She could have just stayed the hell away from Konoha and fixed things from the shadows, killing off those people that would only ruin the future. It had been her original plan too. Until, until she'd talked to Obito. Seen how very similar they were.

'_**You're thinking far too much brat. You'll pop a artery in your brain if you keep this up.**_' Kurama's low, deep grumbled echoed through her head and Naruto perked up instantly, ignoring the looks of that the rest of the team gave her.

"I'm just gonna go do some meditation, at the river we passed a few minutes back. I'll be right back 'ttebayo!" Turning on heel and leaping up onto a tree branch, Naruto turned back, offering up the team unit a cheeky salute before disappearing in the undergrowth.

.

She'd been running for near enough five minutes when the river met her.  
Dropping onto the bank and running a hand through her hair, Naruto blew at the bangs that framed her face. After a moment of consideration, the blonde placed the toes of her right foot against the heel of her left shoe, slipping one off and then copying the movements with her feet swapping positions. Once her sandles were off, she dipped her feet into the cool water, kicking it back and fourth a bit before her fingers came together in that all too familiar seal. There was a low puff as substance took the place air had previously occupied, a perfect clone forming. Instantly it's appearance began to change, nails lengthening and whiskers becoming more prominent against the tanned skin of her cheeks. Pupils twisted from small black orbs into twin slits, blue turning to red. One henge later, and finally, the possessed clone grinned, lying out onto of the water with what could be considered a pleasured purr.

"**It shall be a long while before I tire of this,**" Kurama scratched at the back of his head, sighing. A mop of reddish hair, roughly the same colour as his fur, sat atop his skull, falling around his face in an almost unruly fashion.

"Yeah well I'm still trying to get my head 'round the seal for a more stable clone. It's taking a while... And you've been asleep for a very long time."  
Kurama just twisted his head to stare directly at her for a second before returning his gaze to the sun above their heads.

"Like, a really long time."

"**Four months in nothing compared to my lifespan. It is but the blink of an eye,**" Kurama's eyes had fluttered closed, either to empathize his point or get as much sun on his skin as physically possible, she wasn't too sure. Maybe it was both. "**Although four months is quite worrying, I did not plan to sleep longer than a month.**"

"Sleep? You were dead to the world buddy." Dropping out onto her back, Naruto sent her tenant a snarky smile, even if he wasn't looking at her.

"**Brat. As if you yourself are any different when exhausted.**"  
Rolling her eyes, Naruto forced herself to sit back up, looking over at Kurama's human form. There was very little different than from the last time she had seen it, back before, when they'd been preparing to travel to Konoha. However, she did notice the deep, black bags carved under his eyes.

"Did it really take that much out of you? It has been six years."

"**You insufferable brat! Let us see you attempt to travel back through the time-line! You're power is nothing compared to mine! You are lucky I was even able to carry your sorry form along with me!**" Kurama's fists slammed into the water, sending spiralling columns of liquid surging into the air by a good ten feet.

.

Once she was clear of the blast zone, Naruto held up her hands in surrender, grinning all the while.

"Okay, I get it, you're grumpy when your tired! I just thought, with you being the greatest of tailed-beasts you know..." Never let it be said that flattery got you nowhere.  
Kurama relaxed back into a seated position, hands dancing across the surface of the river with a small smile on his face. Distracted by nature, of course.

"**I traversed back twenty seven years into the past, of course I shall be tired. You are lucky that I was able to stay awake long enough to get you to your precious Jiraiya. I will recover, but the energy that I have used will not fully return for another two years, possibly three at the worst. By sleeping, I do not expand as much energy and thus I can cultivate more.**"

"Okay, cool. Three year's isn't too bad. I've waited six, why not three more?" Sliding across the water's surface, Naruto stopped a foot away from the nine tailed fox, grinning sheepishly. "I'm gonna do something, so don't freak, okay?"  
Red eyes narrowed at her, but Kurama managed a short nod, ignoring the tightening of his muscles that were readying for a fight. Instead, Naruto's arms closed around his much larger form, clinging to his shoulders and her face pressing into the soft junction between his neck and shoulder.

"I just wanna say thanks okay? For helping me out."  
He didn't respond, and Naruto wasn't too sure if it was because she'd fried the fox's brain, or because he didn't know how to respond.

Pulling back, the blonde grinned at the confused face that met her. Upon wiggling her brows, she managed to coax a sharp, barking laugh from him, but nothing more. Running a hand through his floppy hair and looking down at the late teenaged form he'd taken on, Kurama offered her a smirk.

"**I am going to go and rest again, hopefully I shall sleep a little lighter than the last time. And brat? Flattery won't work again.**" He disappeared in a puff of smoke, but that didn't change the smile on Naruto's face.

Forcing herself to her feet, the girl mechanically put her footwear back on, heading back to the camp-site. All the while, the feeling of progress, even if it was just within her relationship with the demon, fired her up. And there was only one way to cool herself down.  
Training it was.

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Naruto came back to camp after half an hour of alone time. Personally, Obito couldn't see her as the type to meditate, but he wasn't going to push her for information. There'd been a rather large spike of chakra -or so Minato-sensei had said- but he'd been quickly assured it was probably Naruto getting frustrated with herself. Sure enough, she'd come back to them dripping wet, and no more questions were asked. It wasn't for the fact that Obito didn't have any questions, it was more the fact that Naruto had walked right up to him and announced the two of them were going to spar. Kakashi had even stopped running through his kata's, going as far as to quirk a questioning eyebrow.

"We're sparring?"

"Yep, now come on, there's supper to be eating after," Naruto leapt from foot to foot, shaking out her wrists in the process. Droplets of water burst outwards from her, shaking all over and Obito did his best not to grin at her.  
Almost silently, Kakashi made his way over, seating himself to Minato. The blonde was now looking up from whatever the hell he'd been writing, staring at the two of them before a grin broke out across his face.

"No, this is good. Go for it, I'll get a good look at both of your skills."  
Opposite him, Naruto had already fallen into a dodgy looking fighting stance, one which Obito had personally never seen before.

"Okay, let's go!"

.

The only thought Obito was able to process once he'd shouted that was 'fast!'. Naruto had surged forwards, twisting at the last second and slamming her elbow into his ribs. A swift, spinning kick to his rump later and Obito was laid out in the grass, nursing a bruising side and rubbing furiously at his injured posterior.

"That was quick for a Genin," Minato-sensei was on his feet now, looking down at Obito with some form of sympathetic smile and the Uchiha bristled at the sight of it.

"It was just a fluke, I wasn't ready," growling, Obito hopped back onto his feet, rubbing at his tender ribs when they screamed in protest as the quick movement. It was Naruto's face that pushed him forwards. She didn't look at him with pity, or scorn. It wasn't empathy, her face was just blank. Only the fire in her eyes, the want for him to keep fighting, to not give up, had Obito stretching out his torso, readying himself once again. The blonde began hoping from side to side again, waiting for him to start things off.

Now, Obito wasn't stupid. He was just passionate, he got caught up in what he was doing most of the time. But now, focusing with a clear mind on his team-mate, Obito's brain began spinning.  
Naruto was faster than him, that much was obvious. She'd been trained long before he had, so it was probable that she was more skilled as well. Which meant that the usual tactics the academy had taught them wouldn't apply here, he'd have to improvise. But he was male, and by the laws of nature, he should be physically stronger than what she was.

"Well if you're not coming," Naruto trailed off, wiggling her eyebrows before she shot forwards once again, at the same speed. This time though, he was expecting it. Instead of trying to dodge to a side, Obito just dropped; it was a half-hearted crouch, but it got the job done, because Naruto's punch sailed over his head, her eyes shooting down to track him but unable to change her body's momentum in time. Obito swept his legs out in an attempt to send the girl tumbling to the floor, but Naruto jumped cleanly over his kick, flipping forwards and over his crouched form.  
Twisting his body, Obito threw himself into a roll, staying close to the ground as Naruto's kick missed his head by a mere inch. She smiled, clearly pleased with what was happening so far before preforming a back-flip to put some distance between them again.

"You dodged," Naruto mused, cocking her head to a side. She was still crouched close to the ground, much like he was, and Obito scowled at her, pulling his goggles down.

"Yeah, so?"

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with dodging. I don't bother with it because I can take the punishment, but you can't."

.

Naruto came at him again, but this time, instead of dodging, Obito managed to grab hold of her fist. The force had him skidding back a bit, but he did managed to keep a good hold of her, even coiling his other hand around her wrist. With a sharp, jerky tug that was nowhere near as clean as he'd have liked it to be, Obito threw the speedy blonde over to a side, watching as she sailed off. Before she could get control of herself, Naruto slammed into her tent, sending it crashing to the ground. She groaned, and for a panic stricken moment, Obito feared he'd hurt the girl. However, she sat up, clutching at the remains of her tent and pouting.

"My tent. It's broken." Her bottom lip wobbled and Obito couldn't help but snicker slightly. "We'll finish this later, I don't want to break it anymore," Naruto looked mournfully at her tent and looked to be in almost tears.

"Don't worry Naruto-chan, I can patch it up for you," Minato-sensei held out his hand expectingly and with a slight hesitation, Naruto handed over the fabric.

Now they were no longer fighting, Kakashi had lost all interest in the two, though Obito did spy him hazardously attempting Naruto's odd starting pose.  
But with anyone else taking it up, they just looked silly, so Obito got a few giggles out of it.

* * *

A few hours past, and by now, the night had crept upon them. Naruto's fire was roaring, little embers disappearing into the nights sky and Obito tried not to focus upon it much, least he ruin his vision. There was a low pop off to the side, and Obito turned just in time to get a branch thrown at him.  
Catching the offending item, he looked at Naruto cautiously before noticing the marshmallows skewered upon the end. Only Kakashi appeared to have turned down her offer, and Minato-sensei was happily roasting his own over the fire.

"We feel like a team now, don't we?" Minato had looked up at them, grinning across the fire and slowly Obito nodded. He almost missed the way Naruto's smile turned bitter-sweet, and from the look of Kakashi's face, he wasn't the only one that noticed it.

"Did you do anything like this with Jiraiya, Naru-chan?"  
The girl looked up before smiling, nodding in response to her sensei's question.

"Yeah, a few times. It's nice just to sit and enjoy the outdoors, ya'know?"

"Well, we should be in town by tomorrow, so make sure if you need some food to buy some, okay team?"

"Hai sensei," Obito chirped, nibbling upon one of his marshmallows and trying to ignore the way Naruto just poured the rest of the pack down her throat.

And it wasn't an easy task either.

* * *

**Aha! Quick update is quick.**

**I am quite pleased with this chapter, more than I probably should be. I noticed it's been a while since we heard from Naruto, so I threw her in there. And Kurama's there, answering some of the questions I got in the reviews.**  
**As for how Naruto and Jiraiya met? There will be flashbacks at some point, whenever I can fit it into this story actually. I look forward to writing it, I just need to slot it into a chapter where the scene feels at home.**

**.**

**I just noticed when writing this chapter than I have 365 alerts for this story, that's like a person for every day of the year. I can't quite wrap my head around that to be honest, so thank you all so much!  
****As an author, reviews mean the world to me, they make me smile, giggle, feel very flattered, but most of all, they make me want to write. So please, if you think my stories are worth a few of your words, then leave one? Pretty please?**

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	7. Part 2,1

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.1**

* * *

**Minato**  
**ミナト**

Let it be forever known that Minato was very pleased with his team. Kakashi was skilful and mature, Obito was loveable and willing to learn, and Naruto was just a bundle of unpredictable joy. He would adopt all three of them in a heart-beat if they were ever orphaned, he wouldn't even have to think about it... Okay maybe he'd ask Kushina first, but he was plenty sure that she'd agree.

That was why, on the very first day that Konoha was attacked, and Minato was out fighting on the border, he'd been torn between finishing the mission and racing back home.  
While he most certainly did trust the three, that didn't mean he didn't worry about them.

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Naruto had slept soundly through the first set of bombs, but was unable to stay asleep when the second round of explosions went off. It shook the foundations of Jiraiya supposable well built house, vibrating all the way through the building she'd taken to calling home and rattling her bones. When the left wall gave way, crumbling inwards, Naruto knew that a) Jiraiya was a lying lair who lies, or b) the bomb had been aimed directly at her house. When a team of Chũnins began making their way in, Naruto knew that it was probably a bit of both.  
Now, on the day she had first moved into Jiraiya's magnificent building, she'd been informed of what every single seal did, and how it would work to defend the house. She'd also been informed of the places Jiraiya kept all of his most precious things -seals and other jutsu mumbo-jumbo, not his pervy books- and he'd all but beaten it into her that she had to protect these places with her life.  
If anything fell into enemy hands, it would cause a massive problem.

At first when he was explaining everything to her, Naruto had just wrote the man off as a typical paranoid ninja. Now however, she was feeling rather thankful that Jiraiya had prepared for a frontal assault on his house.

.

Snatching one of Jiraiya's book from the table atop the landing, Naruto activated the seal upon the cover and threw it down the stairs. As soon as the book hit the floor, volts of electricity danced across the floorboards, racing up the nearest ninja's leg and sending him dropping to the ground like rock.

"Watch it, there's someone in here!"  
Naruto pressed herself hard against the wall, wearily looking into the bronze vase that gave her a clear view of the area beyond her little wall of safety. Her heart was beating rapidly against her rib-cage and flash-backs of the fourth war were running through her mind, Neji's sacrifice and every other bloodstained corpse that she'd been unable to save.

"I thought that the Sanin was suppose to go to the other bomb site."

"Guess again!" Naruto leapt out, brandishing Jiraiya's mirror as she drew a bloodied hand across the surface. Instantly, several dozen kunai's were unleashed, lashing out and flying straight for the trio of Chũnins reaming. One growled, but they all managed to dodge, only just suffering minor cuts.

"She's just a kid!"  
Naruto snarled under her breath, jabbing at the sleeping form of Kurama inside of her mind. She really didn't want to tear Jiraiya's house apart, but if there were bombs going off in other parts of the village, she needed to be there as soon as possible. Instead of responding though, the fox just swatted at her mental jab lazily, which was basically Kurama talk for 'your problem'.  
Scowling, Naruto dove for the kitchen, ready to arm herself with the next seal.

.

The Chũnin approached wearily, with whom she assumed to be the sensor at the front. If it wasn't for the seal's suppressing her chakra to her bedroom, this guy would have sensed her a mile off. It was a good thing she hadn't crashed out on the couch last night like she'd originally planned, because otherwise she might have not woken up at all had they been aware of her presence. The Chũnin seemed to be kicking themselves too, the front guy must be able to get a reading on her chakra levels now, and she knew for sure that her levels were the biggest in the village. Her body just wasn't able to fully harness it yet. Didn't mean she couldn't do some major damage though.

As expected, the first guy walked straight onto the reverse summoning seal, sending him straight into the mountain toads stomach. And that was another one gone.

"What the hell?!" The two Chũnins flew back, but Naruto was waiting and ready. Well, Naruto and her clone.

With a sharp cry of 'Rasengan!' the two Iwa ninja's were down, blood oozing sluggishly from the carvings upon their backs.  
Summoning the other one back with a twist of the seal, Naruto grabbed the man by the slime covered collar, pulling back her fist before slamming it into his face.

With all four ninja's knocked out cold, she dropped the last body onto the floor and went off to find some rope.

* * *

It was only a minute later than Kakashi appeared, smoke smeared across the skin on show and matted into his mask and hair. He paused upon the sight before him, watching as Naruto slowly tightened the rope that bound her captives. Their eyes met and for another moment, Naruto was sure the silver haired boy was seeing right through her. She was once again the Genin and Kakashi was the sensei, drilling in the importance of team-work into her thick skull with the power of a jack-hammer.

"They're attacking the Uchiha district, there's loads of them," Kakashi ground his teeth down and Naruto shot to attention.  
For the past year she'd been in the village, she'd been over at the Uchiha compound more than she'd care to remember, sometimes hanging out with Obito, or babysitting with him. Itachi and Shisui, Obito's cousins, had grown especially fond of her, and Naruto felt panic grip her organs, juggling them about before leaving them in all the wrong positions.

"Crap, lead the way."

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

"NO!" Obito made a desperate lunge for the Iwa nin, but the man was already backing away, clutching the unconscious body of Shisui within his arms. Behind him, Itachi was in tears, but Obito grit his teeth, blood slowly seeping down from his forehead and past the seal of his goggles.

"What you gonna do boy? You can't come after this one without risking that one." And he was right.  
Obito couldn't take off after Shisui without leaving little Itachi open for attack or a kidnapping attempt.

.

The second the bombs had started going off, Fugaku had grabbed him by the shoulders and ordered him to protect Itachi with his life. The clan heir was to come before all else, and that was final.  
Itachi let out another wail, as if sensing that Obito couldn't go after Shisui, clutching at the elder boys pant leg and burying his face into the material. There was panic all around him as the other three youngsters, no older than five, all piled together in the corner, defended by a new Genin a year younger than Obito. The girl was looking at him absolutely hopelessly lost and Obito grimaced. He couldn't make this choice, either way he was going to lose a cousin. If he went for Shisui, then the man would go for Itachi. But he couldn't stop him from leaving without risking Itachi.

"Don't worry," the man said with a smirk, backing up towards the door and clutching Shisui possessively towards his chest, "we'll take care of the little brat. Maybe you'll meet him on the battlefield in the future. And you can be reminded of your failure."

"The only failure here is you!"  
The dull edge of a kunai was slammed into the Iwa ninja's skull, sending him crashing to the ground as a dark blue blur snatched Shisui away from the toppling man.  
Naruto was stood behind him, with a look of fury Obito had never seen upon her face before. Kakashi was off to a side, cradling the limp body of Shisui, fingers on his neck and looking for a pulse.

"He's alive. Just unconscious."  
The female Genin almost cried in relief and Naruto dusted off her kunai, dropping the rope she had thrown over her shoulder.

"I just took out some that were trying to steal Ero-sensei's work, before you ask. Let's get him wrapped up, he's better for information than as another dead body... Obito, you okay?"  
The raven haired ninja was shaking, still clutching at the kunai in his hand that he'd been fending the Iwa nin off with before he'd gotten a hold of Shisui.

"Hey, it's okay," Naruto approached him slowly, as if realizing that he'd hit some level of shock. Itachi ran out from behind him, attaching his small body to Naruto's leg and rubbing his snotty face into her bare calf. Without hesitation she picked him up, hugging him tightly against her body and smoothing his hair out. How could she stay so calm in this?  
Obito was having one of the biggest panic attacks of his life and Naruto was acting as if this was an everyday occurrence.

"Bring Shisui over here, Obito, you hold him, we'll defend for a bit. Take a break."  
He wasn't give much time to argue, as Kakashi thrust the unconscious body of his younger cousin into his arms before pushing Obito towards the female Genin and the rest of the children. He heard Naruto whispering to Itachi, asking him to stay by Obito's side and that she'd give him as many hugs as he wanted when it was safe to do so. The young boy trembled, but managed to stand by Obito's side when Naruto set him down.

.

It was a tense thirty seconds before the next Iwa nin showed up. He was bloodied and battered, and it was no wonder if he'd managed to make it through a good portion of the Uchiha clan to get here. Kakashi was instantly on the offensive, Naruto backing up and putting herself between the enemy and the children.

When the silver haired boy was batted away, back out the door with a well placed earth jutsu, Obito gritted his teeth. If he took out Kakashi with such little effort, then Naruto was in trouble. From what he'd seen in training, the two were about the same level. And this guy was Jōnin easy.  
Naruto seemed to realize this at the same time, because she uttered curses that, under any other circumstances, would have had the children gasping. And then the strangest thing happened.  
Naruto started glowing.  
Not the usual faint blue that was the build up of her chakra, but a full on, yellow, whole body glow that blinded everyone in the room. Well, almost everyone but him. The goggles over his eyes shielded his vision somewhat, and whilst it was still glaringly bright, he could make out her faint outline. A long, cape like coat had formed, and her pigtails were now defying gravity, whipping about as the golden chakra surrounded her.

The Iwa ninja seemed to realize he was in trouble now, but he still came at her, using some earth jutsu to encase his hand in hopes of a heavy hit knocking Naruto out. And then, Naruto moved.  
If Obito was asked to relay these events later, he wouldn't have a clue what to say, because it all happened to fast. One second, the girl was in front of him, then she was one the Iwa nin's side, with what looked like sensei's Rasengan in her hand. Then, it was thrust at the Iwa ninja.  
He flew towards the wall at the same time Naruto turned back to normal, golden glow gone.

.

As the enemy smashed through the wall, the children behind him, along with the female Genin stopped shielding their eyes, watching as the man flew away through the solid stone wall, which left a sizeable hole. They all turned their eyes towards Naruto, who was still crouched over, hand extended and slightly smoking from her attack.

"He won't be getting back up for a long time," she growled, straightening up and nodding towards the door. Obito tracked her eyes to see Kakashi pulling himself back in, one hand pressed against his side and coming away with blood on it.

"Here, I know some medical jutsu!" The female Genin made her way over, hand glowing green and Kakashi offered up his side without complaint. His eyes were on Naruto though.

"What happened?"

"I dealt with it." Naruto folded her arms across her chest before remembering where she was and returning to a defensive position. Her eyes fell upon his and Obito sent her a glare as best he could. He knew she wasn't telling them something, and it was confirmed when she pleaded with her eyes for him to back her up.

"Rasengan. I didn't know sensei had taught you that."  
As the blondes face slowly drew into a smile, Obito mouthed the word 'later' to her, and Naruto nodded when Kakashi wasn't looking.

.

There were another few tense minutes, but no one else made it to the house they'd taken refuge in. Naruto had taken to calming the children whilst both Obito and Kakashi stood guard, with the female Genin, Emiko, stood back up for them. Naruto was sat with Itachi in her lap, stroking the boys hair and he clung to her shirt and cried. Shisui was slowly regaining consciousness thanks to one of Emiko's jutsus, and he was laid out on Naruto's other thigh, just taking comfort in her warm presence. The other children were sat behind her, protected, but close enough that the fed from her comforting aura.  
Obito kept casting a glance over his shoulder and watching her, trying not to pay attention to their captive Iwa nin.  
Unfortunately, he seemed to be coming back to the waking world too.

Things had fallen quiet, and as footsteps resounded upon the wooden floorboards outside, Obito tightened his grip upon the kunai, growling slightly. However, when the worn form of one Mikoto Uchiha poked her head through the door, there were a collective sigh of relief.

"You caught a live one?" Her dark eyes had locked onto the hostile presence in the room and Obito nodded.

"Kakashi and Naruto got him," he wasn't going to take credit for their good work, especially because if it weren't for them, Shisui would be on the fast track back to Iwa by now.  
Mikoto's eyes landed on Itachi's sobbing form, sat within Naruto's lap, and she held out her hands for the boy. But instead of running to her, Itachi clung tighter to Naruto. The blonde girl just sent Mikoto a look of helplessness, clearly not knowing what she was suppose to do.

"Just try and get him to sleep," Mikoto whispered, but it was clear from the pain on her face she was hurt by her sons rejection.

* * *

Eventually, the lot of them had managed to clear out of the house of defence. Mikoto had ushered both Obito and Naruto into the her own home, while Kakashi had somehow escaped, stating that he had to report the situation to the Third. This though, left Obito with the perfect opportunity to speak to Naruto.  
Currently the blonde was stood in the center of the room, rocking a crying, but noticeably quieter Itachi back and forth, attempting to get him to sleep. Shisui had already been reunited with his mother, and luckily they'd not lost any Uchiha's in the attack. It was a close call though; two were grievously wounded and several more had serious injuries.

"What was that glowing thing you pulled," Obito whispered, looking over at Naruto.

"It's what saved me before Jiraiya found me. I can only really use it whenever I'm in danger," Naruto ran one frustrated hand through her bangs before rubbing Itachi's back in a comforting a manner as she could, "I'm still working on full control. But it's slow. Gonna be another twoish years."  
So a bloodline, like the Sharingan then.

"How did you stay so calm?"

"I'm not like the rest of the Genin Obito," Naruto's face was grim, both with dirt and an emotion he couldn't quite understand yet, "I've seen things that no one should really have to. I've seen war, right out on the front lines. It changes you. Once you've seen it and accepted it, nothing else can shake you."  
He didn't realize he was shaking till Naruto had placed a hand on his shoulder. She had to have put Itachi down by now, who must be, by default, asleep.

"It get's better, trust me." She gently lifted up his goggles before brushing her thumbs across his cheeks and when her digits came away wet, he realized he was crying. What a baby.

Suddenly, Naruto's arms were around his shoulders, pulling his face up against her neck and pressing into the skin. She smelt of ramen.  
After a moment, Obito managed to reach out, wrapping his arms around her, returning the hug.

.

They stayed that way for a while, Naruto in a half crouch that must have been very uncomfortable on her thighs, and him, shaking and crying like a blubbering baby. It wasn't until Mikoto came into the room that time started moving again.

"Am I interrupting something?" She cocked an eyebrow lightly and Obito quickly swiped his tears from his cheeks, shaking his head.

"No, I'm good."

"Okay, because I need to ask you some questions on what was happening. Shisui just woke up, and he's begging to not be taken away."  
Naruto grimaced in front of him and Obito found himself mirroring the expression. And not without reason.  
Shuffling about in his seat, Obito final found the strength in his legs to stand, forcing himself to remain upright next to Naruto. He'd treat this like a ninja report, and try to avoid the emotions until it was over.

"Would the two of you like something to eat? We can discuss it over dinner." There went that idea.

As Mikoto scooped her son up into her arms, Obito stuffed his hands into his pockets, smiling regardless as Naruto copied the action. Following Mikoto out and to what he knew to be her dining room, the raven haired Genin took a quick look at his team-mate. She was dusting down her shirt, and it took him a moment to realize what was so odd about her appearance.

"You're still in your sleeping clothes!"  
Blue eyes blinked back at him before Naruto looked down at her own form, a smirk twisting up onto her lips.

"Yeah, that tends to happen when you're woke by bombs." She skipped ahead before Obito could say anything else, dropping onto one of the cushions by the dining table and folding her legs beneath her.

"I'm afraid I haven't had much time to prepare some food, will Onigiri do?"

"Sure," Naruto rocked back on her butt and Obito rolled his eyes, nodding to his aunt with a sheepish a grin as he could. His goggles were resting on his head, and while Mikoto had taken the time to clean the blood from his forehead, he'd still have to check out the wound later.  
If he was lucky, he might get a scar out of it.

.

As his aunt disappeared, Obito turned back to look at Naruto, watching as she hummed to herself, fingers drumming along her thighs. A small whimper brought both of them to attention though, peering around the table edge in synchrony. Itachi was awake again, black eyes scanning the room before they landed on the bright blonde head of hair that was Naruto. Without hesitation he crawled over to her, clambering into her lap and pressed his head into her stomach.

"Na-na."  
No matter how advanced Itachi was with his mental development for a one year old, he still insisted upon calling Naruto by that name.  
The girl's cheeks slowly grew red with embarrassment before she hefted Itachi up into her arms, letting him take hold of her cheeks with both his hands.

"Hey Itachi," her words were slurred as his cousin pulled at her face, distorting her mouth and Obito chuckled. Naruto sent him a betrayed glare before turning her attention back to Itachi, least he rip her cheeks from her completely. "You know what? Me, you and Shisui will all go out for Ice-cream tomorrow, yeah? Sound good?"

"Hey!"

"Okay, Obi-brat can come too," sticking her tongue out at him, Naruto grinned before blowing a huge raspberry into Itachi's stomach, making the traumatized child giggle.

"ice'mean?"

"Yeah, ice-cream, you like that, right?" At the boy's shy nod, Naruto hugged him closer, rocking the boy back to sleep.

"Ice cream huh?" Obito unclipped his goggles at the back, turning to look at Naruto and the dozing Itachi in her arms.

"Why not? It's not as good as ramen, but it'll do 'ttebayo."

* * *

**Fugaku**

**フガク**

It'd been an exceedingly trying day. The bombs on the western walls of Konoha had been a distraction. Both the Hyūga and Uchiha clans had been the main target, though there had been a rumour flying round that one of the sanin's homes had been raided too.  
Luckily enough, they hadn't lost any children, though it'd been a close call. One nin had managed to get just outside the walls before Jiraiya had caught him and returned the Hyūga child to the compound. The closest the Uchiha had come to losing a child had been Shisui, but thanks to the quick thinking of the Hatake child and his team-mate, the young boy had been saved, and they had a live Iwa prisoner to interrogate. That was good, more than what they'd gotten so far.

Pushing open the door to his home, Fugaku paused, listening to the blatantly loud voice that was echoing through his home. It wasn't Obito for sure, he knew that kids voice anywhere. Though it was familiar.  
Looking into the dining room, Fugaku stopped at the door, watching the scene before him. The blonde girl, one of Namikaze's team that often helped Obito out with babysitting, was animatedly telling a story, throwing her arms about in wide gestures. His son was sat upon Mikoto's lap, watching the girl with wide eyes, paying apt attention to whatever she was saying. Obito was sprawled out next to the girl, laughing along at certain parts. However, he shut up pretty quickly when he noticed Fugaku stood at the door.  
Raising an eyebrow, the clan head watched at the girl faltered, looking to Obito in wake of his silence before following his gaze to the door he currently occupied. Instead of instantly shutting up though, she offered him a little wave before returning to her story-telling, which was clearly amusing Itachi.

"I'm going to go change," Fugaku grumbled, gesturing down at his uniform and watching as his wife nodded.

.

Once done, he reappeared back in the dinning room. The girl seemed to have finished her story and was now nibbling on a stick of dango, which Mikoto had to have brought out for desert. There were a few left over Onigiri waiting for him, so Fugaku dropped into a seat next to his wife, eyeing the two Genin sat up to his table.

"Thank you," even if his gratitude felt a little forced, the girl seemed to perk up slightly, as if she wasn't used to hearing the words, "for saving Shisui."

"No problem Uchiha-san," the polite tone clearly didn't sit too well with her, because her face scrunched up, like the words were poison on her tongue.

"Your name?"

"It's Naruto. Just Naruto." Rubbing at the back of her head, the girl, Naruto, grinned before slapping Obito on the shoulder a few times. The boy winced in some form of good natured gesture before punching the girl back in the arm.

"No fighting up to table," Mikoto had thrown a kunai between the two, and it was now vibrating against the door frame, where it'd stuck the wood, digging a few inching into it. Naruto had turned to look at his wife with an appreciative grin, muttering an apology under her breath.

"Thank you for the dinner Uchiha-chan, but I've got four unconscious Iwa nin at home I should really be handing over to the Hokage."

"I'll come with you." Stuffing the last of the rice ball into his mouth, the head of the Uchiha clan stood up, gesturing for the girl to take the lead. The blonde blinked in obvious confusion before shrugging.

"Okay, but don't forget, I can totally handle myself, ttebayo!" Walking after the girl, Fugaku didn't miss the way Obito sent her a thankful glance, and as the girl called that'd she'd be by to pick Itachi up in the morning, he allowed a small smile to cross his face.  
Even if she was loud, the girl was clearly skilled. And if that rubbed off on those around her, he wasn't too worried about the Uchiha kids training or relaxing with her.

As long as they didn't start wearing orange that was.

* * *

**EDITED; This chapter has been edited, for simpled grammar and spelling mistakes. I will eventually make my way to others. Promise.**

**.  
Quicker update is quicker. Not even a day between this and the last one now. Please don't get used to it. I don't wanna disappoint when I fail to update.  
**

**So, war time. Yeah, never really wrote anything like it as far as I can remember - at least, all politics and crap like that- but I'm going to have a go.  
The group are about ten years**** old**** now, a year has past since they became a team. So obviously they've got a good team dynamic going. Or at least, as good as you can get with Kakashi on your team. **

**Anyway, this chapter is long. Like, 4200ish words long. That'll probably be about as long as they get I'm afraid. Regardless, I'm hoping you all like this and drop a review. The next update won't be as quick I don't think. **

**Oh, Emiko won't be a big character in this, she'll just pop up every now and then. Kinda like Konohamaru, but with no importance to the plot. At all. She's just there to fill space. They'll be a few like her, so pay them no attention. Most will be there for the Chunin exam's, to flesh out the numbers really. **

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	8. Part 2,2

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.2**

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Waking in a cold sweat, Naruto let a raspy breath leave her lips, shuddering. Her fingers were curled around the bedsheets, clenched tightly so the cotton wove into the space between the joints her knuckles formed.

Jiraiya half burst into the room not a moment later, pausing when he spotted no threat. One hastily preformed 'Kai' later, he approached her, albeit wearily.

"Naruto?"

"Just a bad dream. Promise."

"Was it about Sasuke again?"  
Pain shot through her chest and god was it hard to breathe in here? Where had the air gone?  
A hand slapped at her back, forcing her to draw a huge gasp of air into her system and Jiraiya stood back to watch, face grim.

"It was, wasn't it?"

"You don't understand sensei."

"Unrequited love? I don't understand that, really?" Her sensei was tracing a jagged scar on his left forearm, no doubt left over from the time Tsunade had almost killed him.

"No. Because you still have a chance. You might not have destroyed their whole existence. I probably have."

* * *

Staring up at the ceiling of her room, Naruto drummed her fingers against the wood of her bed, frowning.  
'_If you find you ever need any help, the Uchiha clan is in your debt._' Fugaku's words, the one's he'd spoken when helping her cart the Iwa nin's to the Hokage ricocheted around in her brain and Naruto frowned again. She wasn't too used to other people owing her favours, it was suppose to be the other way around.  
Pulling at the button-down, orange shirt she' now taken to sleeping in, the blonde let out a strained sigh, running a hand up her ribs. She'd managed to hide it from Obito, but that Iwa ninja had managed to land a hit. And whilst her ribs were bruised, they weren't broken. She's survive, probably be back to normal come tomorrow. Now though, she had an Itachi and Shisui to meet.

.

Leaping up to her feet, Naruto quickly stripped herself of the sleeping clothes, reaching over to her dresser and flipping open one of the draws. Neatly lined up were sets of different pills, each compartment labelled. There were the typical solider pills, some more advanced versions, a few Akimichi ones, and then her personal favourites. Picking up one of the orange capsules, Naruto grinned before popping two of the glucose pills into her mouth. In just five minutes, there would be no evidence left of her sleepless night, and her energy for the day would once again sky-rocket.

Most of the time she avoided these pills, but after the nightmare last night, sleep had not visited again, so the past five hours had been spent trying to recall what little of the time-line she could. The results of her hard night of thinking were so small that the blonde had instead taken to thinking about Kurama's worrying sleeping patterns. Though they had recently began to lessen, and he was now able to wake up when she was in certain situations that presented a large danger factor, he was still dead to the world in any other way. She'd already drawn up several theories why, though the most significant one appeared to hold a bit of each; he'd used up too much chakra, the presence of his other self was effecting his chakra and/or spiritual levels, the time-line couldn't handle two nine-tails.

For the moment, Naruto herself was okay here, seeing as she wouldn't be born for a while. If she was. Her parents child could be a completely different person to her now, would be if she had anything to say about it. This child would get his/her parents. Because Naruto wasn't heartless, and screw the time-line if she could save the most important people. Which brought her to the most pressing problem. Obito.

.

She personally felt that, by directing his attentions away from Rin, if the girl died -because Naruto would have something to do with stopping that too hopefully- then Obito wouldn't take a nosedive off of the sanity diving board. He'd been drowning in the deep end of crazy back in her time, back with the whole moons-eye plan. If she could stop whatever the hell had triggered that, then he could go and have brown haired, orange wearing Uchiha babies with Rin after that for all she cared, as long as her precious people were saved, she didn't care.

She pushed down the small voice in her brain that suggested that moving Obito's affections from Rin was a bad idea, rubbing tiredly at her own forehead. Because that little voice keep saying she was trying to find a replacement Sasuke, and as the only other Uchiha her age, she'd substituted Obito into the role.  
But that wasn't true. Obito could never be her Sasuke. Because Sasuke was Sasuke. And Obito was Obito. They were very different people.

Even if when she did look at him out the corner of her eye, the two blended together more often then not.

* * *

Grinning up at the young child sat atop her shoulders, Naruto rolled her tongue against her teeth, snickering slightly. She'd quickly found out from Mikoto that the best way to avoid post traumatic stress for children was to distract them, preferably with something shiny or sweet. So Ice-cream had turned out to be a fabulous idea after all.  
Adjusting Itachi's legs slightly till he was more balanced upon her, Naruto turned to get a good look at Obito, trying to ignoring the boy that currently pulling on her pigtails. Her team-mate was juggling Shisui, who wanted up from the piggyback he was currently in.

"But Itachi's up!"

"Yeah well Itachi's lighter than you!" Obito was currently swatting away at Shisui's exploring hands, which were sneaking higher and higher up the boys shoulders. In a moment of sheer Uchihaness, the younger boy managed to scramble up Obito's back, seating himself on the boy's shoulders with a triumphant cry following his victory.

"Oh just leave him Obito, he'll get tired sooner or later," Naruto snorted, rolling her eyes before turning her attention to back to the street, "do you think we can go and fetch Kakashi, maybe badger him into joining us? Make it a team thing?" Scratching at the back of her head, and then startling as she nearly dropped Itachi, Naruto grinned sheepishly. Obito looked at her, spluttered slightly before nodding, ever so slow.

"I don't see why we have to invite the bas-"

"Obito-nii!" Shisui smacked the older boy atop the head, clearly having anticipated the curse that was about to fall from Obito's lips. Itachi was looking quizzically over at the two, as if about to ask what Obito had been going to say, so Naruto quickly tickled at his foot to distract him. Because innocent Itachi was ten different levels of cute, and she'd do anything to keep him at this stage. Even have her hair pulled out of her skull. And if the way Itachi was gripping it was anything to go by-

"Oi! Kakashi!"

.

Naruto skidded to a halt, Itachi forcefully colliding with the back of her head with an 'ompth'. For the first time in a very, very long time, Kakashi seemed relieved to see the two of them. Currently, he was being followed by at least four civilian girls, all of which seemed intent on getting him to share their dinner.

"We're getting some ice-cream, want to join?" Kakashi took on the look of a boy presented with two very hard choices. Either one looked painful, and it would be quite apt to say he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"We're gonna train afterwards!" Naruto helpfully added on at the end, sending the boy a promising wink. That made the silver haired boy's decision so much easier; he strode towards them with purpose, easily leaving began the gaggle of girls.

"Thank you," the Hatake's whisper was low, but enough for Naruto to catch, and she quickly sent him a smile to know his rare gratitude was received.

"Okay! Ice-cream time!"

* * *

Handing Itachi the cup of frozen dairy, Naruto adjusted her own, shovelling a big a dollop into her mouth as she possibly could. And given that she was only armed with a small, plastic shovel no wider than her thumb, it was quite an impressive feat. She could feel Kakashi and Obito watching her, both trapped in some sick form of fascination in which their nausea was evident, but they couldn't seem to look away.

"It's like the marshmallows," Obito murmured, eyes wide and face twisted by an awed, yet disgusted frown, "all over again."  
Kakashi finally broke the spell over himself, having lifted one hand up to cover his eyes. Both Itachi and Shisui were giggling at the going ons, the latter attempting to copy Naruto's behaviour, only for the ice-cream to drop back into the bowl, unbalanced.

"Thanks Na-na." Itachi was looking up at her, shyly, through his lashes, a small smile on his ice-cream smeared face.

"No problem squirt. When you're old enough, I'll take you on some training trips. Both of you. Sound good?"  
Both nodded, Shisui more than Itachi because he already had a grasp on what ninja were. She could feel Obito and Kakashi watching her, but she ignored the feeling, instead fluffing up the three-year old's hair and laughing as Shisui began trying to flatten it down.

"Erm, hi guys."

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

Kakashi's muscles instantly locked at the sound of the voice, before they uncoiled, twisting and readying his body to bolt. To the untrained eye, nothing had changed about how the silver haired boy was sat. But right now though, there was something watching him.  
His eyes shot up to look at Naruto, who was smirking slightly at his current posture, before her blue eyes turned to look at the intruder to their booth. And then the smile slipped off her face. Kakashi already knew who it'd be, he'd know that voice anywhere, but he still hoped he was wrong regardless.

.

Stood at the edge of the table, Rin was clutching at a few sheets of papers, nervously eyeing the only person she didn't really know. Naruto stared back at her evenly, but her eyes weren't the open friendliness that usually sat upon her face. Instead, she was guarded, a frown upon her face and with the air of someone who was looking at something that was directly blocking her from completing a mission. She didn't even seem to be seeing Rin, instead just an obstacle.  
And as soon as Kakashi spotted the look, it was gone, and Naruto was all cheerful and friendly again.

"Hi! I'm sorry, I'm a bit dense, who're you again?"  
Rin didn't seem too bothered by it, brushing her brown bangs back from her forehead with one hand whilst the other curled slightly tighter around the papers she was holding.

"Rin Nohara. And you're Naruto," Rin's light humour was a huge difference than what he'd been expecting, he'd already braced himself for a frontal assault, but it didn't seem like it was coming. Was it possible the girl had matured from her Academy days? "You left a big impression on our class, and, erm... That's why I'm here."  
She hadn't even spared Kakashi more than one glance yet, and the silver haired ninja actually found himself starting to relax. She had grown mentally, that much was evident. And he was thankful for that. One less girl hunting him down. She may still have a crush, but not anything that would effect a mission if they were to work together.

"Kakashi-kun, he's a Chũnin right? And you two are still Genin?"  
Across from him, Naruto slowly began to nod, chewing on the end of her spoon, one arm wrapped around Itachi. The younger boy seemed to have crawled into her lap again, now fully able to see above the table.

"I was wondering if you'd let me be your third team-mate in the Chũnin exam's in summer."

"Sure Rin!" Obito leapt into the conversation the second things turned in his favour, and Kakashi rolled his eyes. Of course Obito wasn't able to keep quiet this long. He didn't seemed to be able to keep his crush under control, even though it'd been a good year of the ninja life-style.

But what really struck Kakashi was the thunderous expression on Naruto's face. She'd accepted the paper from Rin, and was frowning down at the writing. Her mood seemed to have nose-dived since Rin's appearance, and Kakashi frowned. Because why would Rin be an obstacle in her way? Unless..  
There was a sinking feeling in his stomach, the kind that only came when he knew something was going wrong.

Naruto had a crush. Either on him or Obito.  
And that's why Rin was a problem.

Great.

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Somehow, Rin managed to worm her way into walking along the streets with them. Naruto didn't like it.  
Looking to Obito, who was now animatedly telling Rin on how he'd helped defend his clan yesterday, Naruto forced herself not to frown. The black haired boy seemed to have forgotten she and Kakashi existed; currently orbiting Rin like she was the sun to his earth. As if that wasn't bad enough, Kakashi also seemed to be putting some distance between them, which was not cool. It was like the past year hadn't happened at all. She'd thought she was making progress!  
Which brought her to the current problem. The Chũnin exams.

.

It wasn't that she didn't want the promotion, she would very much like to say that she was an official Chũnin, seeing as she'd been a Genin for as long as she could remember. But that meant teaming with Rin. Pushing Obito and Rin closer together. And that wasn't allowed at this moment in time. No. Wrong course of action.  
So she was once again in a very difficult place, presented with two options, both with problems.  
Thankfully, she was saving from thinking on it too much when a white blur dropped from the sky, landing in front of their group.

Straightening himself out, Jiraiya stood before her, a confused expression evident on his face at the sight of Rin. With a quick shake of his head, his eyes landed on her, and his face lit up slightly.

"Naruto, we've got a problem. A big problem, the kind of problem that means you're gonna learn something big if you join me."  
Hell, she wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity to learn something.

.

Attaching herself to her sensei's side with one arm, the other cradling a confused Itachi, Naruto looked up at her white haired guardian.

"Can Kakashi and Obito come too?"

"Sure, but that's it." Jiraiya reached out, grabbing the two in question before leaping off onto the roof-tops. It was an odd sight, seeing Jiraiya of the Sannin leap across from one building to another, two kids under his arm, one kid with an even smaller kid under his arm.

.

Watching as Jiraiya, who was carrying Kakashi and Obito, the latter of whom was carrying Shisui, disappeared over the roof-tops, Naruto turned back to Rin. The brunette looked a little lost, and quite disappointed. Probably over the fact Kakashi hadn't acknowledged how mature she'd gotten.  
Naruto kind of felt sorry for her, but this little crush was less important than everyone's lives in the future.

"Sorry," Naruto scratched at the back of her neck with one hand before adjusting her hold on Itachi with the other, securing the boy, "we're kinda needed it seems."

And with that, the blonde took off after her sensei, leaving one very confused Rin behind.

* * *

**Bah, short chapter is short. Anyway, thank you all for the super awesome reviews, I'm almost as 200, which is fourteen different kinds of sexy.  
In other news, it is currently snowing here, and I have to walk to school in 20 minutes.  
**

**As you can see here, Naruto's not come out of her previous life completely unscratched, she was sixteenish, so of course she was gonna had a crush/fallen in love with someone. And Sasuke was kind of the obvious choice.**

**Kakashi get's the wrong idea, but how would he know Naruto's planning to save the time-line by separating Rin from Obito's affections? It was the only sensible conclusion after-all.  
And Rin's shown up to throw a spanner in Naruto's future fixing machine. Nothing new there really. **

**.**

**If there's anyone out there that live in or near Orlando Florida than hi! I'm coming over there in early July, and I've been asked by my dad to use my stories to ask if there are any decent Steak houses/other restraunts over there. I trust you guys, so whatever food you eat, I'm a-willing to try. So if you've got a moment, just drop a name and the general location please? (_The last stake house I tried in Florida was horrid, so we don't trust the guild books anymore_)**

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	9. Part 2,3

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.3**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito knew where he was; he was in training ground 54, along with Jiraiya of the Sanin, Kakashi and his little cousin Shisui. Yeah, that still didn't add up in his head, even when he factored in Naruto's appearance from the left, the girl hugging Itachi close to her chest.  
Rubbing at his forehead and scowling when the answer didn't appear, he dropped to the forest floor, arms folded across his chest and pouting. His time with Rin had been cut short. He barely saw her at all now, they were so busy running missions. It was a grand disappointment.

"Right, you're all here. Now, that attack yesterday, we know what caused it."  
Obito perked up a bit at that, along with the other two members of his team. Naruto was sat upon the floor now, brushing down Itachi's hand absent-mindedly. She seemed to have crashed from whatever had been keeping her cheerful mood up, because the smile on her face looked a little too forced. She winced slightly as Itachi pawed at her stomach, apparently seeing something behind the mesh-shirt that was of noticeable interest. Jiraiya seemed to know what was coming, because he tensed up, ready to dash forwards.

.

Just in time too, because Naruto bodily threw Itachi away from her, one arm wrapping around her stomach and the other supporting her torso as she backed up as fast as she could. As his youngest cousin let out a startled cry, Obito darted forwards, pleasantly surprised to see that Kakashi had joined him.

"Naruto! Calm down, no one's gonna touch it."  
Kakashi had already gotten a good hold on Naruto's arms by the time Jiraiya spoke up, placing Itachi back down on the ground. The two youngest Uchiha's toddled over and Obito bit his lip, eyebrow raised as Naruto flinched back.

"What the hell is on your stomach that's making you freak like that?"  
Before the blonde could answer, Jiraiya had muscled past both her team-mates and yanked up the tinted mesh shirt to rest just below her ribs. And then Obito noticed just why she'd flinched back.

.

Upon Naruto's stomach was one of the biggest seals that he'd ever seen. Beside him, Kakashi let out a chocked breath, staring at the dark, line arrangement that stretched across her stomach. There were so many squiggles it took Obito a moment to realise they were shrunken down symbols.  
Tentatively, he reached out a hand, just to see if it was still ink or a tattoo upon her body, only for Naruto to clamp hold of his wrist. Her grip was deathly tight, and her eyes were hard, and not the battle-worn kind either.

"Don't touch it," her face was contorted down in a grimace, her other arm pulling at the shirt till that seal, her seal, was fully covered again.

"Why not?" Kakashi was quite clearly as curious as he was, eyes still upon the girl's stomach with his eyebrows narrowed in annoyance.

"Because that's what's keeping me alive, okay? I don't know what'll happen if you touch it." She turned to Itachi, ignoring the both of them as she apologised for throwing him, trying to explain the problem in a simple a terms as she could. Itachi summed it up quite nicely though, placing a cautious hand over his stomach before murmuring an 'ow'. Naruto had just nodded at that, trying to ignore all their staring.  
Because great Kami, this was one of the last things Obito was expecting.

.

Most of Jiraiya's explanation past in a blur -Iwa's own seal master tampered with their warning seals, we need to go sort him out, stop him from doing it again blah, blah, blah- because all Obito could think about was Naruto's seal. She wasn't invincible, she was in fact, exceedingly breakable from the sounds of it. Hell, why hadn't they been told before about this? This was kind of a big thing, they were suppose to be a team. Did she not trust them?  
Of course she didn't.  
Naruto had more secrets than the secret Uchiha meeting place. And this was obviously just the tip of the ice-burg, because so many more questions sprung to mind. Why does she need the seal? Would she have died without it, or was it's removal or tampering what would kill her? Did it effect her life-span, how did she get it?

Rubbing at his temples as Jiraiya demanded for them to meet at the main gates at dawn tomorrow, Obito forced himself up onto his feet. He looked at Kakashi, and for a single moment, they shared the same bond, a promise of exchanging whatever information they had on Naruto in their quest for answers. For a second, Obito wondered if the golden glow had anything to do with her seal, before a frown crossed his face. She'd said it kept her alive, that it only came out in dangerous situations. Why didn't someone touching the seal count as a dangerous situation?  
By that logic they couldn't be connected. Otherwise Naruto would have lit up like the new year celebrations if it were so.

.

Groaning when he realized he'd been left in the clearing with his two young cousins, Obito hiked Itachi up onto his hip, grabbing hold of Shisui's hand before the boy could attempt to copy whatever jutsu Jiraiya had used to leave. It was obvious that Shisui wanted to be a ninja, he was forever stealing kunai or attempting hand seals. He'd given Mikoto a heart attack when she'd walked in on Shisui's 'practising'.

"Home time then, I guess."

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

From where she was hanging upside down in a low crouch, pressed against the ceiling of the dango shop, Naruto frowned. A cloak of invisibility was wrapped around her form, so as long as she moved silently; drew no attention to herself and stopped quickly, no one would notice her.

"What are you doing brat?"  
Naruto somehow managed to bite down on her scream, turning to glare holes into the lump beside her. Jiraiya was crouched up, curled within his own cloak, but his black eyes were staring at her.

"I'm trying to figure out Rin's game. Does she know how mad Obito is about her? Is it childish selfishness that has her not wanting to give him up, or because it's a closer link to Kakashi?" Her sensei hummed along in agreement, as they both returned to spying upon the girl below them. Naruto chewed lightly on her lip and forced her stomach not to growl when the scent of ramen wafted up from a bowl on the counter. Jiraiya must have seen her eyes move towards it, because he smacked at the back of her head, earning him a swear from the blonde girl.

"You're suppose to be ten, not sixteen. Stop with the language."

"Yes sensei," Naruto brushed her bangs back before deciding she'd seen enough, retreating out the shop.

.

Stood out in open air, Naruto stretched her arms up and over her head, rotating her shoulders before returning to her resting position. A small thump upon the ground to her right signalled Jiraiya's approach and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"How's Kurama then?"

"Still sleeping," Naruto murmured, absent-mindedly pawing at her stomach before sighing.

"I couldn't risk Itachi touching the seal. No one else has since you did; what if he'd gotten sucked in too?"

* * *

_It'd been three months since Naruto had first started travelling with Jiraiya. Her entire four year old body was aching, but slowly but surly, she was starting to improve._

_Turning over the sausages within the frying pan, The blonde child took care to avoid the flames, making sure her long sleeves were tight around her wrist as she flipped the meat, spatula clenched in her hand. Jiraiya was looking at her again, from the corner of his eye with a raised brow that suggested he was in another one of his 'this is all a crazy dream' phrases. Her head had hurt trying to explain it once without the presence of Kurama, it'd only been at the sight of her seal he'd even taken her in, and then it was just because she was a 'danger' to the surrounding area with one that big. _

_Now however, that she'd had time to prove she wasn't just a genius, or freakishly well informed orphan, and did in fact have years upon years -well sixteen- of experience, the white haired toad sage seemed a little more interested in listening to what she had to say._

_._

_Scowling and pulling the edges of her hood closer to her face, Naruto peered out over the barren wasteland of Rain country that existed outside of her cave. She'd managed to track Jiraiya down with the help of an exhausted Kurama, the demon now fast asleep in the seal. The toad sage had just left the presence of future Akatsuki a week ago, and whilst Naruto desperately wanted to go back, Jiraiya had gotten to suspicious and said no. As she was no older than four years now, she hadn't had much of a choice but to listen to him, and now the Ame orphans will have probably moved base. So there went that idea. _  
_"'Raiya, dinners ready!" _  
_The sage looked up from where he'd been meditating in the rain, a frown crossing his face, though he came back to the cave never the less. Naruto had managed to throw the sausages into a sandwich each, with a messy cut down the middle._

_Handing her sensei his share, Naruto began tearing into her own meat, only just managing to not purring in satisfaction. There was a downside to acting like an adult, Jiraiya seemed to think she could wait for as long as one. It was rather infuriating. But she powered past it, because her childhood had pretty much been in the same state anyway. She'd been lucky to get any meat at all back then._

_"I want to look at the seal." Jiraiya had finished off his sandwich already, and Naruto looked at the pitiful remains of her own dinner before nodding._

_"Okay."_

_ ._

_Lying upon the sleeping bag she'd managed to steal, Naruto pulled her shirt up till it exposed her stomach, and the rather large black seal design upon it. Jiraiya was beside her, half knelt, half sat upon his heels, a frown upon his face. He was muttering words, like 'masterpiece' and 'intricate' beneath his breath, turning his head this way and that to get a better look at the seal itself. Carefully, he reached out one hand, hovering just above the array and looking to Naruto for confirmation of what he was about to do. Naruto nodded, chewing upon her lip, completely bored by the going ones at the moment._

_It was a few moments before she realized her vision was fading, disappearing into black spots, and she looked over to Jiraiya in panic. The man seemed to be suffering the same as what she was, and Naruto couldn't raise her hand in time to knock him away._

* * *

_When she woke up, it was to the sight of brilliant golden cages, which were thrown wide open. Her mind looked a lot brighter now, whether that was to do with the time-travel or the fact she and Kurama were now friends, she wasn't too sure. Then she remembered her current visitor._  
_Turning on heel, Naruto quickly spotted Jiraiya, laid face down on the steel tiles. The water was gone, as if drained from her mind, and for that she was thankful. Her sensei looked as if he'd passed out, unmoving and uncaring._

_"**I'm sure he's been in that position a few times brat.**" Kurama's voice, though insanely tired, was still as loud as usual. Even though he hadn't moved from where he was laid, half in, half out of the cage, one red eye was open, staring at the too of them._

_"Kurama be nice, it's not often you get company." _  
_As if sensing that he was the topic of the conversation, Jiraiya let out a small grunt before forcing himself up to his feet, wearily eyeing Naruto before turning to look at the much more imposing figure. His breath caught in his throat at the sight of the demon fox and Kurama snorted._

_"**Do you believe the brat now?**" _  
_The white haired sage took a healthy step back, turning his gaze back to Naruto before slowly nodding._

_"I think this is enough proof for me."_

* * *

"Just be a little more gentle about it gaki, throwing around a clan heir can get you in some serious trouble. I should know."  
Snickering at her sensei, Naruto pocketed her hands, letting a sloppy tune leave her mouth in the form of a whistle.

"I know. Itachi knows I didn't mean it. He's always been way too smart." And if she had any say in the matter this time, he would not be having too much blood on his hands this time around. It was one of her top priorities, with the very top one being to bring peace.

"Just make sure the Uchiha brat is here on time tomorrow, or I'll leave without him. You're the only reason those two are coming anyway." And with that her sensei was gone.  
Scowling and kicking at an unfortunately placed rock, Naruto pouted as she stared down the street. Already people were rebuilding from the bomb attacks; Konoha was just springing back into shape.

"Naruto?"  
Great.

.

Turning to face Rin, the blonde put on her best smile, not too sure if she was happy to see the girl on not. Her cheeks were flustered, the skin above her purple tribal markings red from running to her.

"Sorry to run off, we got a mission," Naruto mused with a shrug, rubbing sheepishly at the back of her head.

"It's okay, just make sure you all come back unharmed, okay?"  
Rin was making it increasingly more difficult to dislike her. Naruto forced her scowl to stay off her face, instead nodding with a determined smile.

"Of course. I'll drag them both back home if I have too."  
Rin giggled politely behind her hand before bidding her a cheerful farewell and good-luck.

.

As soon as she was out of sight, Naruto ran a frustrated hand through her hair, trying not to sigh.  
Things just seemed to be getting more and more complicated as the day's dragged on.

* * *

**Yeah, here we go, we'll be starting to get something close to war now. And how Naruto's already messing up the time-line. So these next few chapters should be fun. For you guy's at least, seeing as I'll be pouring my blood, sweat and tears into writing it all.  
Anyway, thank you all so much for reviewing, I'm now over 200 reviews, which is actually amazing. I pray the next chapter will be longer to so my gratitude, but for now, have a faster update.**

**.**

**So, on this chapters;  
Naruto's seal is quite unstable, both due to the fact it's 'open' now and that they've travelled through time. That amount of Kurama's chakra leaking through is surly going to mess something up, so Naruto's being super cautious.  
And Rin; I loved Rin's character, she was like Sakura, only without the temper. She was a genuinely likeable character, and Naruto's struggling because all the messed up future is because of Rin's death, but she's struggling to dislike the girl, because she was innocent -as far as we know that is- t****hroughout. All she knows is that Rin's death caused everything.**

**.**

**Reviews;**  
**Thank you Panda-boy, I'll definitely have a look into those. Any other recommendations for things other than steak?  
Ghost, I'll certainly be doing at least one Part on the curse, but that'll come later on. Though it will be there. And Obito will definitely struggle. I'm just warming up now, promise. **

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	10. Part 2,4

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.4**

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

Kakashi was on edge. Having realized that Naruto had a crush on one of the two of them, he was now reading into every little movement, cataloguing it and cross-referencing with typical fan-girl behaviour. And there was no patterns. Nothing at all. It was as if she was a completely different breed of female. And if he had any form of emotions, he'd say that it scared him a little. Because he couldn't get a read on her.  
He might as well be completely blind.

.

Meeting up at the gate, Kakashi wasn't too shocked by the fact that Obito was being dragged along by the blonde haired girl. He was whining, trying to pull his wrist out of her surprisingly strong grasp, crying out that Elder Kazumi needed help with her shopping.

"I swear Obito, if I miss this mission, you'll be the one needing help with the shopping, because I'll cut off your hands."  
The threat effectively silenced the boy, and Kakashi allowed Naruto a small, thankful look which the girl simply nodded to. Forcing Obito to stop beside Kakashi, Naruto stretched out her arms and Kakashi began analysing.  
Even though she'd turned up with Obito in tow, that could simply be down to the fact she didn't want him to be late. Hell, if he showed any emotions at all, then he'd be easily annoyed enough to start fetching the raven haired boy every morning. Luckily enough, Naruto had enough emotions for the two of them, and had taken it upon herself to be the Uchiha's time-keeper.

Currently, the blonde was zipping up her black jacket, cheeks rounded as she sucked in a breath of air before letting it out in one long sigh. If there was one thing that Kakashi found he could be thankful for, it was the fact Naruto seemed to be professional about her crush. She'd hadn't proclaimed her love yet like so many others, and it didn't look like she'd let it get in the way of the mission. Which was good. Excellent actually; he ended up on a team with the one female he could respect it would seem. It would appear his luck wasn't as non existent as he thought.  
Naruto cocked her head slightly, and Kakashi followed her gaze. She seemed to have some form of sensory skills too, because not moment later, Jiraiya appeared.

"Okay kids, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

"Here, page fifty three," Jiraiya threw a well worn, grey book towards him and Kakashi caught it effortlessly, flicking to the page as instructed. A bingo book, and on the page was a picture of a brown haired Chũnin. His face was pretty nondescript, soft chin, forgettable brown eyes and a typical Iwa head-band tight around his skull. He didn't look that much of a threat, but if Jiraiya of the Sannin had picked him out, then Kakashi wasn't going to comment.

"He's a Jōnin now, that book's about as old as you lot are. According to my ears, he's got a pretty nasty scar down the right hand side of his face now too."  
Kakashi nodded, trying to picture the young man on the page as Jiraiya described him, ten years old with a frightful scar. He couldn't really see it.

"We keep an eye on anyone who wants to specialise in Fūinjutsu, most of the time students fall flat on their faces, but there's the odd one that keeps at it until they get good. Some dangerously good," Jiraiya trailed off, turning to look at the only kunoichi on their team.  
Naruto was skipping along beside Obito, both of whom were peering over Kakashi's shoulders in order to get a good look at their target.

.

Meanwhile, Kakashi was once again deep in thought. He knew Jiraiya had raised the girl, and that she'd been a flighty orphan before that, but other than that, he didn't know too much about her. In fact, now that he thought about it, he didn't even know what country Naruto was from. She'd just rocked up with one of the Sannin one day, and instantly been accepted into the village. True the girl had immense skill, had to have to be taken on by Jiraiya, but it just wasn't adding up in his head. He was missing something.  
Did she come from a family of ninjas? Possibly, she had to have some ninja blood in her otherwise all that chakra didn't make sense. And the way she looked so much like Minato-sensei, that didn't add up either. Did she had some Namikaze blood too? Was that why Jiraiya had taken her in?

"ANBU managed to follow them 14km from the walls, but then the trail disappeared. They can't have gotten too far, and they're probably waiting for another opening to attack Konoha now that they've got a way in."

"Is that why Minato-sensei's staying behind?" Naruto had picked up the pace a bit because she was now stood next to Jiraiya, head cocked to a side and an eyebrow raised.

"He's fixing up the defence seals back home so it doesn't happen again. That's why you've got my magnificence leading this team right now."  
The girl snorted before digging around in her pocket, pulling out a small roll of paper. She pulled off a piece, one with a seal upon it, before pressing a bloodied thumb to the sheet. A bag of chips poofed into existence and Obito immediately bounced over at the sight of food.

"Cool, do you have a roll of snacks on that thing or something?"

"Yep, I'll never run out of food now."  
Such an unconventional method of storing snacks, but Kakashi wasn't going to say anything about the girl's odd behaviour, instead coiling his hands around his pack and looking forwards.

.

They'd past the small mark ANBU had left for them, one which only Jiraiya had identified. He'd shown it to them, pointing out the different squiggles and what each one meant.

"They've been heading west, suddenly lost all scent and there should be a small hint of chakra, which they're best sensors couldn't pick up..." Jiraiya let out a small swear, scowling before looking to Naruto. The girl just shrugged, pocketing her hands before scowling.

"I can't sense anything without giving out a chakra flare that'll alert every sensor within a day's travel."  
Their team-leader scowled, dropping onto the ground in a meditative sitting position. Kakashi frowned, because whenever Minato-sensei had been using his sensory skills, he'd only had to press his finger to the ground to locate an enemy chakra. Personally, the son of the white fang wasn't too sure how skilled a sensor Minato was, but what Jiraiya was doing certainly didn't look like any form of sensory jutsu.

.

Then Kakashi paused in his thoughts, because was it just him, or was Jiraiya's nose getting slightly bigger? Naruto seemed to have noticed too, if the fact she hid her snickering behind her hands was anything to do about it.

"Yeah, laugh it up brat."  
Two or three extra warts seemed to have popped up on his much larger nose too, and if Kakashi definitely wasn't going blind at this moment in time, then the Sannin's hands seemed to have turned... Turned more toad like. As the white haired man's eyes snapped open, Kakashi was pleased to see he was indeed correct, the man was taking on toad like features. His black eyes had lost their rounded shape, and were instead comparable to that of a toad's pupils, being two thick horizontal lines that rested within the white's of each eye.

Naruto let out a low whistle beside him, pocketing her hands and waiting for her sensei's information. Jiraiya's toad like eyes scanned their surroundings, a frown upon his face before he finally nodded.

"The trail continues on, the chakra was covered with a high levelled retreat seal, but now I can see the chakra it took to activate the seal." Slowly, Jiraiya's features began to mould back to the norm, losing the big nose and the warts descended back into his skin. He blinked, and the round black orbs were once again upon the three of them.

"We'll take it slow, because they clearly haven't gotten too far if the big mass of chakra signatures I felt about a day's travel away is anything to go by. They're probably planning to attack again now that they have a seal master on their side." Running a hand through his pony-tail, Jiraiya let out a long suffering sigh before standing back up. "We'll make camp half a day's travel away, then do some recon. Once we've got a good idea of the situation, then we'll make a better plan. Just keep quiet," his last words landed on Naruto and Obito's shoulders the heaviest, if the way they deflated a bit was anything to go by.

"Yes Ero-sensei."

* * *

Camp was made quickly. The sun was setting over in the west, dipping low behind the treetops and Jiraiya was roasting the game already, not wanting to keep the fire burning any longer than necessary, especially with night approaching fast. The four of them were crowding the camp-fire, each with their sleeping bags between the grass and themselves. They were all made of the typical ninja material, didn't make too much noise and certainly didn't stand out against the grass in the same way Naruto's bright orange shorts did.

.

The blonde girl was currently separating berries she'd collected into the four containers which were awaiting their share of meat. It took Kakashi but a second to realize that she had a rather large selection of berries, and had left all the poisonousness ones within her metal container. And he pointed it out as quickly as he could; Minato would kill him if Naruto dropped dead from something he could prevent. Naruto looked up, blinking wildly before a small smile spread across her lips. Almost as if she hadn't thought anyone would point out her upcoming death to her.

"I know 'Kashi, they won't hurt me. Very little can actually poison me, and these berries have some great vitamins in once you get past the poison." Her smile grew just that little bit more as she tapped at her stomach, a gesture which Obito or Jiraiya didn't catch, both too absorbed with the roasting meat.  
So it was something to do with her seal then? The seal must be of some use then, but why would it hurt, or even kill her to remove it?  
Wait, what had she called him?

"'Kashi?" He parroted dryly, raising an eyebrow and watching as the blonde girl nodded.

"Yep. I was wondering how long it'd take you to notice."  
Regardless of the annoyance at the pet name, Kakashi found a small smile twitching at his lips before he could stop it, and he wasn't too sure why. Wasn't this comradeship felt like? He shouldn't be feeling like that, ninja didn't feel, no matter how much Naruto tried to deny it. It seemed all the blonde girl did was feel, her emotions were as loud as her fashion sense.

"Naruto, you sorted those berries yet?"  
Her head snapped up to look at Jiraiya and the girl nodded, running a hand through one pigtail as she did so.

"Yep, just throw the meat right on in."

.

They ate their evening meal in something close to silence, which is surprising, especially with the two greatest loud-mouths of their generation on the team.  
Obito, while he had been talking loudly and discussing the things he didn't like about the Uchiha, was now silently stewing over some thought or another.  
Naruto was too busy digging into her poisonous meal to really converse with anyone, even going so far as to lick the toxic berry juices from her fingers. Though Kakashi was not uncomfortable within the silence that seemed to have surrounded the campfire, he would not have sought it out.  
A thinking Obito was a bad kind of Obito. And Naruto... If there was one thing he'd learnt, it was that when Naruto was silent, something big was going to happen. He didn't have high hopes for this mission, but with a Sannin, they should be able to complete their task.

.

"Okay gakis," as if reading his mind, Jiraiya has spoken up, setting aside his empty metal bowl to stare at the three of them, "who of you has a summoning contract?"  
Naruto huffs at this, sending the white haired sage a glare that clearly states there's a story there, but Kakashi isn't too bothered about that. Obito shakes his head, looking put out. Even more so when Kakashi slowly nods his head. Even Jiraiya looks a bit surprised as his response.

"It isn't so much as a summoning contract as it is I'm training my own ninken," Kakashi explains, in a slow voice that he knows will annoy Obito but allow for the boy to follow what he's saying, "I currently only have two and I started training them three months ago."  
Both his team-mates look upset that he's been keeping secrets, but Naruto really has no room to talk in that respect. She seems to realize it too, because she leans back and turns with a raised brow to Jiraiya.

"Only three months, then I doubt they'll be able to avoid being detected by Jōnin."  
Kakashi doesn't want to admit he can still detect Pakkun and Urushi even when the two are trying their hardest to hide.

"Never-mind, just wanted to get an idea. Anyway," Jiraiya slammed his hand onto the ground and there was a gentle gathering of smoke. Once it cleared, a small toad was visible, about the side of his hand. "I'll send Gamabukehin here to the enemy camp, see what he can rustle up."  
The small toad nodded its head before hopping away into the bushes, disappearing from sight.

"For now, try to get some sleep. Naruto, I want those seals up."  
The blonde scoffed but got to her feet regardless, heading over to her pack for what Kakashi assumed to be some form of protection seals. Obito frowned but said no more, bidding everyone a peaceful nights sleep. Kakashi could only hope for that.

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Naruto was still setting up the seals by the time Jiraiya had dropped off to sleep too. As she finished laying out the final seal, the Jinchūriki placed her hands atop the dried ink, pumping her chakra into the paper seal. It should hold until morning, but she had taken to being safer now, and made sure to put a bit of extra chakra in. It wasn't like she didn't have any to spare after-all.

'_**Kit,**_' Kurama was tired, she could tell from the slight rasp to his voice that he seemed to have just woken up. Or rather, forced himself to awaken.

"I know Kurama," she whispered hastily under her breath, blue eyes scanning her surroundings, and most importantly, her sleeping team-mates faces. Obito was out cold, as was Jiraiya. If it wasn't for the silencing seals she'd already finished up, then the latter would have given them away already with his almighty, Gamabunta worthy snores.  
If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought Kakashi was comatose he was so still. It was only the slight flutter of his eyelids that reminded her he wasn't completely asleep, the same way she'd check when he was her sensei. Though back then, there'd only been one uncovered eye to observe.

'_**There's something wrong with this brat.**_' Naruto agreed.

.

No matter how much she thought back on it, she couldn't quite recall Konoha being personally attacked this early in the war. She especially couldn't remember the attempted theft of Uchiha children by Iwa, that'd been more Kumo's style. Either her naps during class were starting to catch up with her, or she'd already changing something pretty drastic. And whilst they luckily enough hadn't lost any clan children, they'd come dangerously close.  
With any luck, the Uchiha's and Hyūga's would be more prepared for the next attempt.

'**Will you be needing my chakra within this battle? Or will I be able to return to sleep now?**_' _Kurama's presence was starting to weigh heavy in her mind, and right now with the both of the weary with sleep, this was not a good thing.

"We should manage," she muttered, cutting off the stream of chakra that'd been filling the seal, pulling back to inspect her work, "I mean, Ero-sensei is here."

'_**Then don't call on me again till you have figured out what is wrong,**_' Kurama disappeared back into the seal and Naruto let out a relived sigh.

.

Turning to her sleeping bag, she crawled into the material, eyelids drooping. Sleep was swift to come, and for that, Naruto was thankfully able to forget all her thoughts for a few blissfully peaceful hours.

* * *

**Little disappointed about the lack of reviews for the last chapter to be honest. Not sure if it was because I updated in the evening, or because it was a crummy chapter, but hey ho.**

**I've decided that once I reach four-hundred reviews, they'll be a fluff chapter on the end of whatever Part # I'm on, with some NaruxObito in it. Because 400 is a nice mile-stone.**

**.**

**So, on this chapters;  
Naruto and Kurama had both realized something is wrong, and Naruto's got some beef with Jiraiya over summoning contracts. Not a lot, but a nice little chapter before things really start to make like a ninja.**

**.**

**Reviews;**  
**alessa, here you go, more drawl from my mind.  
Panda boy, It's one of the things I'm most worried about, how to go about shifting the object of Obito's affections. But I'll figure it out I hope. The only plan I've got right now it to go slowly about it.  
Ghost, Thank you, I hope you'll like what I've got planned.  
Guest, somehow I'll figure out a way for Obito to fall for Naruto, but for now I'm just going to take it slow. Have fun in Orlando; I can't wait to get there myself personally.**

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	11. Part 2,5

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.5**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito awoke to a stiff neck.  
Groaning as he forced himself up off of the hard ground with one hand rubbing wearily against the sore muscles, the raven haired boy took a good look around. A perimeter of seals surrounded the four of them, each glowing a light blue, and Obito would bet his future Sharingan that they were invisible outside of the barrier.  
Nearby, Naruto was spread out like a starfish across the ground, limbs thrown hazardously in all directions and mouth open in a silent snore. Obito wouldn't be too surprised if she was the kind of person to snore; even though she was his rival, they were actually quite alike. She said she'd been looked down on in her old village, so what the hell she'd done at three years old to deserve that, he wasn't quite sure. The whisker marks probably had some form of story behind them, no battle wound would result in such even scaring, so Obito would happily admit to being curious about them. Hell, he was curious about everything when it came to his blonde team-mate.  
Who wasn't?

"Obito."  
The boy in question paused, turning to the fire to see Jiraiya now sat upon the ground, roasting what had been left of the game from the previous night. Out of the three rabbits they'd caught, only half of one had been left for a snack at breakfast. It wasn't much, but it would be enough to silence the growling stomach.

"Wake Kakashi," Jiraiya mused, rotating the game upon the fire and frowning to himself. Beside him was the small toad, which must have completed it's spying mission the previous night. In the glow morning sun, it's once green skin was now flecked with yellow, which would clearly make spying that much harder. Which was probably why it was back here.

.

Rolling his eyes but nevertheless making his way over to Kakashi, Obito knelt next to the sleeping boy. Staring at the mask which stretched over the bridge of his nose, Obito blinked once before a small smile began to spread across his face. Reaching out, he hooked one finger under the material, sucking in a breath as he did so.  
When Kakashi gave no signs of waking, he peeled the navy material back before scowling.

"Who the hell wears two masks? Well, why would you wear two masks?"

"Because it stops idiots like you from seeing my face?" Kakashi hadn't even bothered to open his eyes when he addressed Obito, which only had the young Uchiha scowling more.

"You're an ass Kakashi, you know that?"

"Boy's you're both pretty, now stop squabbling."

The two paused in the argument, Kakashi's eyes sliding open to peer over Obito's shoulder. The raven haired boy followed his team-mates gaze, eyes landing on the sleepy form of Naruto. Her hair and burst free of the twin pigtails, the shorter strands lifting up into dangerous looking spikes that resembled Minato's hair. Once again, Obito was stuck by how alike his team-mate and sensei were. But, having done the maths already, he knew that she couldn't be his daughter.  
Maybe they were distant cousins? The Uchiha clan looked alike, so maybe all the Namikaze's did too?

"Jiraiya's cooking up food," Obito muttered lamely, frowning after his two team-mates as they made their way to the fire. They were both so confident in what they did; Kakashi serious but already knowing what he was capable of, and Naruto constantly pushing boundaries, all with an easy smile upon her face. So where did he fit with them? Naruto was constantly pushing him in training, and he was so much stronger than he'd been last year.  
But then, he was so far away from their level.. It wasn't fair.

.

Dropping onto the log by the fire, Obito pouted, pulling his goggles over his eyes so the smoke wouldn't have them watering. Naruto had already started nibbling on the leg of a rabbit, Kakashi's already gone and only a bone, splinting in the fire.

"Okay, Gamabukehin, you're up." The toad nodded before leaping up to sit beside Jiraiya, it's slitted pupils scanning the three of them.

"The seal master is heading to a clearing, about 2km west of here around mid-day. He's wanting to test a seal, and the other Jōnin won't be going with him. They specifically said not to."

"Excellent," Jiraiya mused, threading his fingers together and resting his head atop the hands, "I'll go and intercept him, your three stay here and stay hidden. If by any chance I'm not done half an hour later," there was a slight pause before Jiraiya's eyes slid over to look at Naruto, "you know what to do."  
The blonde girl nodded, a grim expression upon her face. The toad sage let his eyes slide up to look at the sky before he frowned slightly.

"I'll set off now, seeing as mid-day's about then minutes away."

.

As their fearless leader stood, Obito folded his arms, scowling slightly before turning to Naruto.

"What do we do if half an hour passes?"

"You run," Naruto answered, one hand attempting to collect her blonde hair whilst the other played with the black ribbon that was suppose to be holding her hair back, "and go and fetch help. Both you and 'Kashi."

"And what do you do?"  
Naruto scowled at his question, still attempting to put her pigtail's up but half the strands were leaping free before she could bind them.

"I go and help Jiraiya. Though I don't think it'll come to that. This is Jiraiya after-all." Rolling his eyes but choosing not to comment, Obito swatted at Naruto's hands, collecting the blonde locks before twisting them slightly around his wrist.

"Just tie your hair already," he grumbled, attempting not to blush at the odd look that Kakashi was giving him.

"Why are you helping?" Naruto mused, quickly tying the ribbon, securely knotting it so there would be no more escape attempts.

"My mom broke her wrist two years ago on a mission. I had to help her put her hair up into a ponytail almost every-day for a month."  
Naruto grinned, patting at his forearm in a gesture of gratitude before returning to tying her second pig-tail.

"Well if you two are done," Jiraiya mused, "then I'll get going. Naruto, I've borrowed some of your seals, so I'll see you shortly."  
Nodding, the blonde girl dropped back, lying upon the ground and letting out a small groan.

"Yes Ero-sensei."

* * *

It was five minutes after the Sannin's departure that the sound of explosions started to echo through the clearing. Obito blinked, sitting up from where he'd been sprawled out on the ground before smiling slightly.

"It's a shame we couldn't go watch," Naruto muttered from beside him, twisting her wrist back and forth in front of her, as if there was something positively spell-bounding about the skinny appendage. Knowing his team-mate, there might actually be. Hey, who said the seal on her stomach was the only seal on her?

Before he could ask a question though, Kakashi perked up in synchrony with Naruto, the both of them turning their heads this way and that before the silver haired boy sighed.

"Must have been a rabbit or something," he muttered lowly under his breath, brushing his silver bangs back from his eyes.  
Naruto grimaced slightly, her blue eyes scanning for whatever it'd been the two of them sensed and once again Obito was feeling that bitterness of being excluded. He hadn't sensed anything, though his team clearly had. Kakashi had dismissed it, but Naruto didn't seem quite so sure. She'd gotten up from her relaxed position, crouched over on all fours and taking in their surroundings with more attention than he'd seen on her face in a very long time.

"Naruto?" Obito whispered, raising a brow as the girl instantly shushed him.

.

Then, quicker than Obito could register, her hand was clamped on his collar and she was pulling him back. In the back of his head, Obito could hear Naruto crying for Kakashi to move too; clearly hadn't been in an arms length of her like he'd been. There was a sudden bright light and Obito's eyes quickly shot to look over at his team-mate, dread filling his stomach.  
His instincts were right; Obito had managed to look over at Kakashi just in time to witness the lightning dancing across his body, the catch the scent of burning flesh that had him wincing. Tears had collected at the corner of his eyes and Obito wasn't quite sure who owned the scream in the air, him, Naruto or Kakashi.

After what felt like an eternity, the electricity stopped jumping out the paper -when had that paper got there?- and Kakashi dropped to the floor. Unconscious.  
Hopefully.

.

Naruto dropped Obito, having pulled out a kunai and firing it into the shrubby where the paper seal must have come from.

"Get up Obito, I'll need you to get Kakashi out of there."  
Obito wanted to scream, wanted to demand answers for what the hell was going on here, because wasn't Jiraiya suppose to be fighting the seal-master? There was no way in hell that guy had beaten Jiraiya already.

Obito turned to scream at Naruto for not caring about how Kakashi might be dead, but the words died on his tongue when he turned to look at her.  
Her cheeks were already wet with tears, and every so often, almost too quick for him to notice, her eyes would shoot over to look at the silver haired boy instead of the bush that was her target.

"You fed the summoning false information, how did you know it was there?" Her grip on the kunai had tightened and Obito stumbled to his feet, reaching for his own. He didn't adjust his goggles, never mind how the tears were starting to pool at the bottom of the glass. Naruto was stood defensively, not directly in front of him but quite clearly in a protective stance.

"A simple adjustment to a detection seal, to search for summons as well as humans. Quite effective don't you think? Though I must admit, I wasn't expecting to have Jiraiya the toad sage on our tail."  
The man had stepped from the bushes now, and Obito instantly knew he was the seal master they were looking for. The big scar ran down one side of his face, jagged and very, very ugly.

"He's fighting off a good half of the Jōnin we have with us now, so he won't be able to help you brats," the brunette paused, cocking his head to a side and looking at the broken form of Kakashi, "and from the looks of things, you might need it."

.

The man went to take a step closer, but Naruto had thrown her kunai, which was just short of cutting off one of the guy's toes. Clearly on purpose, because Obito knew Naruto never missed with weapons. Her aim was perfect.

"He's the genius Hatake right? We've had an eye on him since he graduated early. Though I don't know either of you two; you can't be anything special."

"You wanna bet?" Naruto was smirking now, having wiped the tears from her eyes and Obito instantly recognised her game face. "My name's Naruto! Remember it, because I'm gonna defeat you!"  
The Jōnin snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if you insist, I'll allow you the knowledge of my name too, it's Nakao Ichiro." Ichiro adjusted the slip of paper he was holding in his hand and Naruto's eyes narrowed, her body tensing beside him and Obito gritted his teeth. Her hand slipped behind her back, blocking the Iwa seal-master from seeing it, though her hand-signals were clear as day for Obito. She gave him a simple three-pointer plan, she'd distract the guy whilst Obito grabbed Kakashi and got him out the way.  
The Uchiha had no problem with this plan. He trusted Naruto, more so than he probably should. Kakashi's life was on the line right now, he wouldn't screw up. Now wasn't a time to be late.

.

Naruto held up three fingers, counting down to one before she shot forwards, a Rasengan beginning to form in the hand behind her back. That took the Jōnin by surprise for a moment; clearly he'd been intending to play with little Genin, not ones that knew A-class jutsu. Naruto let out a war cry as she dash forwards, her free hand clamped over the biceps of her Rasengan hand.  
Obito shot out as soon as Naruto was out the way, skidding to a halt in front of Kakashi before gathering up in his arms as quickly as possible. It was awkward, what with the way Kakashi clearly taller than him, and how the boy smelt of burning flesh and moaned in pain as the slightest of movements. But as Obito thought about it, that was a good sign. If he was feeling pain, then Kakashi was alive. For now.

.

Obito made a bee-line for the bushes, placing Kakashi on the floor and gently as he could in his hast. Behind him, a low boom echoed, and Obito turned in time to see Naruto slam a Rasengan into the ground, just missing the Jōnin. Ichiro had backed up now, nondescript face guarded and scar twisting his eyebrow down at an odd angle.

"You brat," he hissed, reaching for another slip of paper that dangled from his belt. Naruto instantly put distance between the two of them, signalling for a fire-ball behind her back. Obito nodded, even though the blonde girl couldn't see it.  
His fingers flew through the hand-seals, adrenaline fuelling his hast and building the chakra up within his chest.

The ball of fire tore from his mouth, rocketing towards the Jōnin faster than he remembered it going in the past. Naruto had jumped behind it the second it was past her, summoning up a clone and beginning to form a Rasengan, only this one was much bigger than her last attempt. It was at least the size of her torso, and as the Jōnin danced out of his fireballs range with ease, Naruto pounced.  
She shot forwards, leaping into the arm and screaming 'ultra-massive Rasengan' as she brought it down towards the Jōnin. At last she got a solid hit, but from the low chuckle that echoed through the clearing, it can't have killed the guy.

.

As Naruto leapt back from a block of earth, all cracked and torn by her latest attack, Obito grimaced. Earth clone. The blonde girl shot back to him, instantly scanning the clearing for their enemy whilst trying to defend both him and Kakashi. An ugly emotion bubbled up in Obito's stomach and it took him a second to realize it was jealously.  
He shouldn't need to be protected; Naruto was his team-mate, they were suppose to work together damn-it. She was fierce and loyal and strong and he wanted to be on the same level dammit. He didn't want to rely on her all the time. He should be able to look after her too, because they were friends.

"I'm impressed. Even though it was only a fifth of my power, you defeated the clone. And you noticed my presence when the Hatake dismissed it. Why don't we have an eye on you?" Ichiro appeared from the ground beneath them, hand outstretched and aiming for Naruto's ankle, but she managed to leap back in time.  
Obito copied; now the two of them were but two feet away from Kakashi's unconscious form.

"Are you a sensory ninja? No, you wouldn't have been taught such heavy hitter attacks."  
He wasn't taking them seriously, Obito realized with a sinking feeling. He was too busy assessing Naruto, and the blonde was grimacing, looking like she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Her fingers came together in a cross and she screamed for a 'multi-shadow clone' jutsu. And suddenly there were hundreds of blonde girls.

.

Obito chocked slightly, watching as each one began to engage the Jōnin, piling onto him.

"Grab Kakashi and run Obito, I can handle this," the real Naruto hissed from beside him, her eyes watching every attack, every movement that resulted in her clones being dispelled.

"Like hell! I won't abandon my team-mates!"  
She shot him half a grim smile, borderline grimace, before turning to two clones and nodding. They returned the gesture before plucking up Kakashi and disappearing into the undergrowth.

"You need to learn when things are out of your league Obito, no matter nindos."

"And so do you," Obito snapped, watching in something akin to awe as a chain of Naruto's whipped up, the Jōnin on the end. He was spun around before being slammed down onto the ground, the earth breaking under the pressure.

"How can he get up after that?" Growling, Obito quickly took in how many clones were left.  
After that chain, a measly twelve remained, along with both him and the real Naruto. Summoning up his chakra again, Obito forced another fire-ball out, but Ichiro batted it away with an earth jutsu and a laugh.

"Too easy. You're just brats. Kami only knows why you were brought on this mission."

And then suddenly there was an arm around his neck.

.

Obito stilled, eyes wide with panic because he was caught. He could tell from the furious look on Naruto's face. Before he could register what'd happened next, a Naruto clone substituted herself, swapping him out and Obito's mind swum. The Jōnin sliced at the Naruto's neck, who went up in a puff of smoke, before he shot towards Obito, kunai glinting.  
He was moving too fast, there was no way Obito would be able to move, to dodge this blow. It was going to be a killing blow.  
And he didn't even get a chance to look to Naruto to apologies for being nothing more than hindrance.

Suddenly, something rammed into his side and Obito was bodily thrown to his left. Warm blood splattered around his face, but as he looked up from where he been thrown into the tree, Obito could just about make out Naruto's form.

"Taking the blow for your team-mate? Doesn't matter, you'll all die anyway." Ichiro had stabbed a kunai right into Naruto's stomach, and from the blood pooling around her, it was obviously pretty deep a wound.  
A wound meant for him.

Obito's head was throbbing, and sleep was starting to invade his vision. It took him a moment longer than it should have done to realize he had a concussion, and by that time, his vision had all but blacked out. The last thought on his mind was that Naruto had taken the killing blow for him.  
Why had she done that?

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

She could feel the chakra bubbling around the kunai, waiting for it to be dislodged from her system so that it could start healing her up. Kurama had stirred from his sleep, clearly aware that she'd been injured. Quite critically.  
Ichiro Nakao had danced back away from her, a good ten feet between them and he was smirking at what he assumed to be her dying form. Letting out a little chuckled, Naruto gripped at the kunai, pulling it out and feeling the demon chakra burn at her stomach, the sizzle as the flesh knit itself back together instantly. A small chuckled left her mouth as she realized it'd been a very long time since anyone she had fought had not known her to be a Jinchūriki. Now her shirt was ripped open at the stomach, showing off the dark markings of her seal and she watched as the smile dropped form the Jonin's face, his eyes widening in recognition.  
A short, sharp swear left his mouth at the same time that the demon chakra began to bubbled out of Naruto's skin, the version one cloak beginning to form around her. It was only a single tail's worth of chakra, but without the malice that usually accompanied it, it'd be more than enough to beat the seal-master. He was swearing again now, mutter about he he hadn't a chakra suppressor seal on him at the moment, and that he couldn't fight a Jinchūriki, how he wasn't prepared to fight one.

"I told you," Naruto growled, crouching low on all four as the memories of her two clones popped back to her. Kakashi was hidden away in a small cave, safe and out of the way. His condition wasn't critical, but it would have been had he not had an affinity for lightning. She would be forever thankful.

"I told you I'd be the one beating you, not the other way around."

.

And then she shot forwards, clawed red hands tearing up the ground beneath her hands and feet as the Jōnin tried pulling up a earth wall of protection. She tore through it right away, though it'd given him enough time to scamper out of her reach again. Or so he thought. Forcing her hand into the ground, the red chakra reached out, coiling around his ankle in the very same move that he'd tried not five minutes ago. It felt like a life-time. She pulled his struggling form closer to her, a snarl tearing at her lips as this once smug, grown man before her whimpered.

"You may have dealt with Jinchūriki before, you may have even sealed a Bijū before, but you will have never dealt with someone like me."

"**Because this brat works along side me. We are one.**" Kurama's voice left her mouth and she internally thanked the demon.  
Reaching onto the man's belt, she pulled off the mobilizer seal before slapping it onto his unscarred cheek. She quickly threw her own over-ride seal over that, which wouldn't let him at his own seal without first going through her own, much more complicated seal. A seal for a seal.

.

When she was sure it was in place, Naruto dropped the man, demon chakra slowly receding from her as she gasped for breath.  
Turning to look at Obito, Naruto forced her legs to work, to stumble over to the boy. Her childish body still wasn't used to the demon chakra, and she cursed under her breath as she made her way over. As Kurama informed her it was only a concussion, the blonde let out a gasp of relief, dropping onto her knees before summoning up another clone. It was slightly shakier than what she could usually manage, but that was probably due to her own state of exhaustion.

"Go get 'Kashi," she ordered, prying Obito's goggles from his face before placing them back over his forehead protector.  
Behind her, Naruto could feel the piercing gaze of Ichiro Nakao on her back, but ignored his fury. Instead, she threaded her fingers into Obito's hair, checking for the lump that was sure to be forming on the back of his head. Once the rather grand-sized lump was located, she turned her attention towards his chakra levels, frowning.

'_Kurama, can I have a bit to give him please? I don't want to risk chakra exhaustion_,' as she finished her request, chakra flooded her system and she pooled a fair amount into the boy. She'd never be a healer, but it was the best she could do for now.

.

One hand steadying her against the ground, Naruto forced herself to her feet, brushing her bangs back from her face. She made her way over to the Iwa ninja before summoning up some rope from her own seal.

"We won't kill you. You'll be held prisoner in Konoha, and unfortunately, probably interrogated for information, and then you'll probably be traded back at the end of the war. Either for money or one of our own ninja."  
Adjusted her knot work, Naruto took one last look into the angry brown eyes before seating herself in the clearing. Jiraiya would be able to deal with the Iwa ninjas, which left her waiting on him.

Though it did give her time to figure out just why this had happened. Because Kakashi-sensei had never mentioned this to her before.

* * *

**Wow, so many reviews for that last chapter. Thank you all so much. I hope you like this one just as much!**

**I'm sorry this took so long; recently I've been suffering from shooting pains in my ribs, and it's stopped me from sitting in one place for too long, which was obviously needed to get this chapter out. Thankfully my body decided to give me a break today, and I've been able to get this typed up. You can also thank OneRepublic for there fantastic new album 'Native' which got me in the mood for writing. I swear, 'Counting Stars' is my new favourite song.**

**.**

**Anon- thanks for mentioning that, I'll go change it right away. This chapter is all about changing Obito's very, so that he'll see Naruto in a new light. The next chapter will mainly focus on the after-math of this chapter, and will have a lot of thoughts in it, so I hope you'll like that. **

**NA- wow, thank you so much. I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter then. As I said before in my responce to Anon, the next chapter will mostly be character development, so I hope you'll like that.**

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	12. Part 2,6

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 2.6**

* * *

** Obito**  
**オビト**

When Obito woke up, it was to darkness. Pitch black nothingness. And then the panic set in. His memories were a mess, if he were to liken it to anything, it'd probably be the experience eggs went through when being scrambled. First a crack -and from the throbbing pain in his skull, it certainly felt like he'd suffered a blow to the head- then everything got mixed up, cooked slightly, then served. And now Obito couldn't quite tell yolk from egg white.

Finally, something did stand out, and that was Naruto bleeding everywhere. Why the hell had she been bleeding? Had there been a fight or something?

"Naruto?!" His voice, though definitely sounding panicked, didn't seem loud to his own ears. It was as if someone had taken wool and forcefully stuffed it into his ears.

"Obito!" He could just about pick up on Naruto's voice, which was no louder than a whisper to him. There was some more, quieter talk that he couldn't quiet catch and Obito swerved his head from side to side, almost begging for his vision to return.

.

Suddenly there was a hand clamping down on his shoulder, followed by it's pair, which rested against his cheek to still his head. The small fingers, with the slightest of roughness from work with weapons brushed against his skin and Obito forced himself to calm. This was Naruto.  
Only Kakashi came close to having a hand the same size, and he wore some form of glove. Didn't he?

"What's going on?" Obito did his best to ask in what he felt was a normal speaking tone, but from the slight wince that echoed down her arm, he'd clearly just shouted in Naruto's face.

"Eyes...can...Obito?"  
Half the words his blonde team-mate was saying were lost to him; something about his eyes?

"I can't see Naruto. And I can't hear unless you're shouting!" Once again, his voice came out perhaps too loud, because he could once again hear it, despite the wool.

"Okay then!" Naruto didn't have a problem shouting clearly, and the hand left his shoulder, the breeze on his skin letting him know she was waving in front of his face.

"Nothing?" She mused and Obito shook his head, glad to find that the cotton in his ears seemed to be melting. Slowly his hearing was returning to him.

"It's just a concussion Obito! You're vision will be back soon!"  
He hoped she was right. He was already ostracised from the Uchiha clan, being blind... He didn't even want to think about what'd happen then. In fact-

"What happened?"

.

Obito sat back against the tree, one hand threading through his hair and brushing up against the lump on the back of his head as Naruto explained what'd happened. He was missing a good ten minutes of his life right there; he couldn't even remember the electricity seal that'd gotten Kakashi. Naruto was muttering how this was normal, and that she'd had a friend get a worse concussion. It was the be expected in their line of work, and if he wanted the memories of the fight so desperately, he could always go and ask the Yamanaka clan when they got back to the village. His brain had just repressed them due to the trauma. Though there was one thing he remembered...

"You threw yourself in the way for me, didn't you? Are you okay?! I remember blood."

"It's still on your face Obito."  
A lighter shape appeared in front of him and Obito sent a silent thank you to all the god's out there, because that had to mean he was getting his vision back. A hand drew across his cheeks, and he felt something between Naruto's finger-tips and his own skin.

"Is that your blood?!" It had to have dried, but that didn't mean Obito was anything less than disgusted.  
Naruto just laughed, muttering a 'get used to it' from beside him.

"I've got clones that've gone to fetch Kakashi, but I don't want to leave you both here and go find Jiraiya. He'll be fine on his own. If he's in trouble, we...I mean, I'll see a giant frog towering over the tree-tops soon enough."

"Oh. Okay." Obito began turning his head around, holding his hand up in front of his face, and was pleased to notice that at long last, he could see his hand. Even if it was an unsharpened blob of dark against a darker background.

.

Another explosion went off in the distance and Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"My clones have just got back. Kakashi's not looking too good, but I don't think I can do much about that..." She trailed off, seeming to fire into another one of her internal arguments before a grunt left her lips. Actually, she did that quite often come to think of it.

"Give me a minute."  
Obito hadn't even realized that Naruto had been sat pressed up next to him till she was gone, and his side was suddenly open to the cool air. There was the sound of ripping material and Obito once again cursed because what the hell was she doing?

"Naruto?"  
And then there was the brightest of whites on the edge of his vision. Obito twisted his neck, seeking this new bright tone that'd invaded his vision as much as he dared. It was a blob of white, still nothing sharp but so bright that Obito knew his eyes were going to be okay.

"There," Naruto muttered and the glow faded.

"Wait!" Obito couldn't stop the shout before it'd left his mouth. His cheeks burned with embarrassment because dammit he was a ninja. He shouldn't be needing comfort like this.  
But as the white faded from his vision, shapes seemed to return in it's place. Though still in black and white, it was almost possible to make out his own legs in front of him. Excellent.

"The battle's stopped." Naruto was beside him again, one hand wrapped in his. She pulled him to her feet and allowed him to place a hand on her shoulder, guiding him over to a blob that must be Kakashi on the floor.

"What was that bright light?"

"I was just transferring some chakra to Kakashi. Hopefully, it'll help him out." Naruto slowly sat down so that Obito had to join her or risk standing on his own. "Ero-sensei should be back soon."

* * *

It was three minutes later that Jiraiya returned to their clearing. The scent of blood was present on his skin, and while Obito could now see in colour, his vision was still massively blurred. He couldn't quite pick out any blood splattered on the Sannin, so it couldn't be terribly bad.

"Thank god. You beat him... But not without casualties I see."

"Kakashi's hurt," Naruto grumbled from beside him, brushing her hair back from her face before standing.

After a moment of deliberation, Obito followed her lead, pulling his goggles down till the blurry world was enshrouded in a familiar glow of orange.

"Naruto saved our lives," Obito grumbled, looking over at the white blur that had to be the Sannin's hair, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, she does that. But the three of you are team-mates. They'll come a day that Naruto needs help, and you save her life. She might put up a good visage of being strong and untouchable, but she gets attached too easily." The mountain of white hair was now stood beside Obito, watching what the Uchiha assumed to be Naruto scamper to the edge of the clearing. She disappeared, and only the cry that she'd be back with food let Obito know where she was going.

"You know, when she faced her first A-class ninja, she made him cry? I wasn't there with her, but she talked him down."  
Raising a sceptical eyebrow, Obito looked up at Jiraiya, still unable to pick out his finer features. From his eyes, it looked as if the man had been crying tears of blood, instead of the usual red that were his tattooed lines.

"She can be quite delicate when she wants to be, so you two brats are going to have to look after her, okay?"

"Sure Jiraiya-sensei. I'll never abandon by team-mates."

"Good."

.

As the perverted writing lumbered off to go and check on Kakashi, Obito dropped down onto the ground, lying out as best he could before letting out a frustrated sigh.  
Naruto had saved his life. She taken a critical blow for him. Pushed him out the way so that she could.

Biting his lip, Obito took a look at the orange tinted sky above him, glad that he could pick out the white clouds and the shapes they formed. His vision was almost back to normal now; if it wasn't for Naruto, he'd never see anything again. Because he would have been dead.  
Rolling his tongue up in his mouth and clicking it against the roof, Obito let his fingers play through his hair again, feeling for the lump that was surly resting there. It was quite large, but he'd have much worse. Should have much worse. In annoyance, Obito slammed his fist into the ground beside him, scowling.  
Naruto had once again shone, showing she was seven different levels of awesome. And he hadn't done much of anything aside from get in the way. But no more.  
The second he was back in Konoha, he'd be training. Training on his off days, training whenever he had spare time. And if that meant asking Naruto, or gods forbid, Kakashi, for help?

Then so be it.

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

When Kakashi woke up, it was to the sight of bright yellow hair. Groaning and rubbing tentatively at his forehead, the silver haired pre-teen began reassessing his memories. Then stumbled to a halt, because all he remembered was his muscles convulsing after Naruto had screamed for him to move. A warning that'd come several seconds too late by the feel of his body. Every limb was sore, like he'd spent far too much time exercising with Gai of all people. A involuntary shiver ran down his spine at the very thought of the black haired boy and his constant challenges.

"You awake back there?"  
It was at this point that Kakashi realized it most certainly wasn't Minato-sensei that was carrying him. In fact, he was much closer to the ground than he should be, and his feet kept brushing against short legs far too often for this to be Minato. And the only other person with hair quite that blonde was-

"Naruto." An exhausted sigh left Kakashi's lips before he could stop it. That meant whoever had attacked them had been the defeated.

"We're all okay, if that's what you're wondering," Naruto muttered dryly, a roll of her eyes probably accompanying the gesture. Not that he could see that, what with the way he was currently being piggy-backed.

"What happened?"  
And so Naruto quickly recited the story, how they'd been tricked, how she'd accidentally knocked out Obito before her seal activated and she beat him.

"He's in one of Jiraiya's toads. Don't ask. I didn't want to know more, but I didn't get to opt out."  
There was a low snort to his left which just had to be Obito and Kakashi forced his sore head to turn to look at the boy. His fellow team-mate was being piggy-backed by Jiraiya of the Sannin. The white haired man seemed to be favouring his right foot, and from the twitching of his arm, he must have an injury on his upper-arm. If Naruto had told the truth and that Jiraiya had been fighting off Jōnin, then he wasn't going to comment. Few could get away with the little amount of wounds the Sannin seemed to have.

"We'll be back in the village shortly," Naruto muttered and Kakashi nodded to himself, more lost in his thoughts than he'd care to admit.  
Naruto was carrying him. And she wasn't showing any of the typical fangirl behaviour. If anything, she seemed displeased about something. Could that mean that she liked Obito?  
Why would she like Obito?

Briefly, he ran through a list of what the fan-girls normally twittered on about.  
Good looking? He was a Uchiha, but that didn't mean he appealed to everyone. Or anyone for that matter. Genius? Nope. Hell, Obito wasn't even considered smart. Good heart?  
Now Kakashi did pause, turning to look at Obito and raising an eyebrow. If there was one thing that Obito would forever be ahead of him in, then that would be having a 'good heart'. He was too kind, too trusting, but perhaps that was what Naruto was after?

.

Shaking his head, Kakashi dropped his chin onto the blondes shoulder, more out of exhaustion than any form of affection. Throwing the idea of Naruto liking either of them away for the time being, he tried to focus upon what was happening now. They were running back in the direction of Konoha, and judging from Naruto's pulse beneath his jaw, they'd been running for some time. Which meant he'd been unconscious for a while. Which was not good.

"Hey Naruto... When we get back, can we start doing some extra training... In our own time?" Obito had perked up slightly from where he was hidden on Jiraiya's back, staring over at the two of them. Kakashi blinked slowly, trying to sort through the fog of his brain to process what Obito had just said.  
Extra training? Why would Obito want extra training? He was a drop-out, a loser. He wasn't suppose to put more effort into getting better. Was he?

"Sure. Why don't we do a team training thing? That way we can get stronger together, and improve on our team-work... Someone once told me Genin could take down a Jōnin with team-work. And I think we could do that. Think about how much more effective we'll be as a team? A well oiled unit?"

Kakashi liked that idea. He liked that idea a lot. Team-mates on his level, that'd be able to keep up with him and wouldn't be dragging him down?  
Yeah, that sounded pretty damn good.

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

She's finally figured out what had gone wrong.

It'd taken four days, four days since the Iwa seal master disaster that'd gone down, but the blonde girl had finally figured out why this had happened before. Naruto had spent hours digging through her memories with Kurama, checking over things, before she'd finally found a little conversation she'd had with future Jiraiya. How he'd described having left Rain after spending a few years there -which she later learnt was when he'd taught the Ame Orphans- he'd run into a budding seal master from Iwa. And he'd slapped a seal on him that'd prevent him from moving his fingers in order to hold a brush.

But since she'd come back in time, she'd kept Jiraiya in Rain longer than he should have been. Thus, he'd never run into Ichiro. And Ichiro had never had the seal put on him, and had been able to keep practising.

This mess was all her fault.

* * *

Scowling from the Uchiha front porch where she was waiting for Obito. Naruto adjusted her new mesh shirt, making sure it was fully covering her stomach as she waited on her periodically late team-mate.

'_**Don't worry about it brat, you're sure to upset a few things. As long as nothing important goes wrong, all should be fine.**_' Kurama mutter in her mind.

'_Yeah, but you're not the one under pressure to save everyone,_' Naruto grumbled back, tapping her foot atop the wooden flooring impatiently. Once again, her thoughts were brought back to Obito and she scowled.  
Was she getting anywhere with his affections for Rin? It wasn't love yet, couldn't be. He was only ten years old, there was no way. Naruto refused to believe he was in that deep already. She could still fish him out. Somehow.

Turning to her final team-mate, Naruto raised a brow. When she had mentioned the team-training thing, she hadn't expected Kakashi to join them. At all.  
But now he was cleared for active duty by the hospital, the silver haired teen had sought her out, all but demanding she and Obito include him in the team training they'd been doing for the past two days. Naruto had no problem with this. More exposure to their happy go-lucky ways might turn Kakashi. He wasn't Kakashi-sensei, would probably never be now, but Naruto was slowly growing to love this stoic team-mate. Slowly but surely.

"Sorry I'm late. Shisui wouldn't let go."  
Now that was an excuse that Naruto was willing to believe. Still, she giggled slightly when Kakashi told the Uchiha off before the three of them began heading out of the Uchiha compound.

.

With the Iwa seal-master caught, the village was in much better moral; all kinds of special shinobi offers had popped up in stores, and Naruto had been sure to take advantage of that. Jiraiya's cupboards were now stocked high with ramen, enough to last through the next year. And Naruto was now very, very happy.  
That mood however was ruined with the light cry from behind them.

"Kakashi! Obito! Ah, Naruto!"  
Catching Kakashi's arm before he could walk off an leave her own her own, Naruto turned to look at Rin, forcing a smile onto her face. The girl made it hard to dislike her, but Naruto was determined not to let one girl's feelings get in the way of the entire future.

"Obito," the brunette looked up at Obito, cheeks flushed from having ran down the street to catch them up, "there's a sale on dango, buy one get one free. You love dango right? Will you come get some with me?" Blinking her brown eyes, Rin smiled slightly at Obito and Naruto rolled her eyes.  
Looks like it'd be just her and Kakashi training today.

"Actually Rin-chan, we're kind of busy right now."

This surprised even Kakashi, because both he and Naruto turned to look at their dark-haired team-mate with raised eyebrows.

"The last mission... I wasn't good enough. I only got in the way, so I'm going to train with this two. Sorry." Obito rubbed sheepishly at the back of his head and Naruto felt hope swell up inside of her chest because hell, this was progress.  
Well and truly, progress.

"Oh maybe later then?" Rin asked, clearly embarrassed she'd been turned down.  
Obito nodded before turning back to the two of them, missing the look Kakashi shot Naruto. The blonde just shrugged but was unable to keep the grin from her face.

"See ya' later Rin!"

* * *

**Armed with a tub of half-baked Ben&Jerry's, I bring you this chapter. The last of Part 2. Finally Naruto is starting to see some progress. I hope you all will to.  
Personally, I believe you can't swap from loving one person then going on to another without a transition period in-between Some amount of time were you wean off of the original object of your affections, before going onto the next person. So here, we can see Obito's just starting to begin this stage. But it will be slow going until he even considers Rin and Naruto to be on the same level. **

**.**

**NA- You fabulous reviewer you. I certainly hope this chapter isn't a disappointment; thank you for those recommendations I'll make sure to have a look into them as soon as possible. Thank you for your kind words. **

**I'll be taking a short break -just a few days, if that- to flesh out the next part of this story. I've got the basic idea, just gotta put them into the chapters now, then start writing. **

**In other news, I'm two followers away form 500. Thank you all so much, you ridiculous people you. Why you all like my writing, I have no idea. But I will be forever grateful and try not to disappoint. **

**.**

**Thank you all for reading this! **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	13. Part 3,1

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.1**

* * *

** Obito**  
**オビト**

Naruto was stood at his door again. Scratching at the back of his head, Obito leaned against the window frame. Spying on Naruto was useless, she already knew exactly where he was. This was evident when she looked up from the porch to wave at him. Half hanging out his bedroom window, Obito rolled his eyes before cheerfully waving at his two team-mates. Kakashi was stood besides Naruto, but was clearly too busy talking to whichever one of his aunts had answered the door.

Sighing and turning back into his room, Obito wearily eyed the two little Uchiha's sat upon his bed, their big, black puppy eyes trained on him.

"Obito-nii, where you going?" Shisui slid ever so slowly from the bed, dashing over and grabbing onto the material of Obito's pant leg. Itachi stumbled after him, waddling along before snatching at Obito's free limb for support.

"Na-na?"  
Naruto, of course. Itachi was getting scarily smart, he'd already come to associate Obito's current behaviour along with the knock at the door to mean Naruto was here.

Plucking the little heir up in one hand and the other grabbing for his goggles, Obito made his way over to the door as fast as he could with the dead-weight of Shisui sat upon his foot.

"Come train?" Shisui mused, arms hugging at his calf and Obito laughed lightly.

"Maybe when you're older squirt."

.

He clearly hadn't been quick enough getting down the stairs, because his mother was sat up to table with her two sisters, along with the rest of Obito's team. Both Kakashi and Naruto were nursing a cup of tea, listening raptly to whatever Mikoto was telling them about the front-lines. Just last week Fugaku and a few others had been called out to the Kiri/Konoha boards to fight. And whilst Obito wasn't worried for his uncle -he seriously doubted anyone could kill a guy that stubborn- he did worry for his aunt. Because Mikoto worried for her husband, and Itachi seemed to be picking up on this.  
If it weren't for the fact they'd been seriously training these past two months, destructive jutsus included, Obito would have taken the two along. But now that he was starting to get stronger, their training sessions were getting more and more intense. Which was good for them as a team. Very good.

Turning his attention back to the table, Obito made his way over, trying to shake Shisui from his leg as he went. At the sight of him, Naruto let out a little snort of amusement, holding something out in her hand. Instantly Shisui was on his feet, dashing over to inspect whatever the blonde girl was offering up.  
Every week or so, Naruto had started to bring both boy's a gift, from wooden kunai's to practice with, to toad purses that matched her own. Today it seemed, the gift was for the two of them to share. Picking it up, Shisui turned back to Obito with a frown on his face. The eldest Uchiha child was still fighting to keep a good grip on the squirming Itachi, who quite clearly wanted to be near the blonde girl now.

"A book?"

"Not just any book, the main character has my name. The tale of the gutsy shinobi! Jiraiya's finest book!"  
There was a pause as the three Uchiha women slowly turned to look at the blonde, eyebrows raised.

"Wait! It's not his usual! I promise! It's a book on ninja! I swear 'ttebayo!" Naruto had since shot up and was now hiding behind Obito, having heisted Itachi from his grip as she went by. The three women giggled, Mikoto inspecting the two of them before a slow smile began to spread across her face.

"You know Obito, you and Naruto would make the cutest couple!"

"What?! Mikoto-chan! We're not a couple!" Naruto whined over Obito's shoulder, to which he happily nodded along, trying to ignore the bright red blush upon his cheeks.

"Yeah, Obito-baka could never get a girl like Naruto," Kakashi mused from the table, placing his empty cup on the wooden surface before standing.

"Kakashi!" Unfortunately, Naruto managed to catch his arm before he could go after the silver haired brat, so Obito relented to following after the two sulkily, bidding his cousins and aunts/mother a farewell as he went.

* * *

Walking through the streets of Konoha, Naruto let out a whistling tune as she walked along within the middle of the two of them. Looking at her from the corner of his eyes, Obito frowned a bit, scratching at the back of his neck as he did so. Their first mission -after been cleared for duty following a through psych check- had been a nice easy escort, from point A to B within the borders of Fire country, in which they had absolutely no action. And every single mission after it had been as equally boring. Obito suddenly got why Fugaku was so grumpy all the time. It was like being in the eye of the storm, just waiting for something to happen, knowing it was coming but never knowing when. His nerves were strung tight, and from Kakashi's rigid posture, so was the silver haired boy's.  
However, of course, Naruto was perfectly content with all that was going on around her. As always. Her blonde pigtails swinging from side to side, Naruto was bouncing along cheerfully beside them, still whistling that obnoxious tune.

"Wanna grab a bite to eat before we start training?"  
Kakashi looked like he wanted to say something, but instead stopped himself before he could. He shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets and sighing.

"I don't mind Naruto."

"Good, because this new place just opened, and man, you gotta see it!"  
Suddenly, there was a warm hand wrapped around his wrist and Obito found himself getting pulled through the streets behind a very enthusiastic Naruto. Kakashi appeared to have been attached to her other arm, and was clawing at the vice like grip in a feeble attempt to escape. Obito already knew it was hopeless, so just resigned himself to being pulled along by the blonde manic he called a team-mate.

.

"Naruto, we are not eating here."  
Obito almost felt inclined to agree with Kakashi, just this once. He knew how Naruto felt about ramen. It was a dangerously unhealthy obsession, that only ever stopped when the restaurant they ate at ran out of ramen to serve her. However, eating at a ramen stand would mean they wouldn't run out of ramen. And if they did, it wouldn't be till the day was out.

The blonde haired girl turned her blue puppy eyes on them and Obito could feel his resolve weakening.

"Please?"

"Only if you get take-out," Kakashi grumbled. Though he put up a pretence of setting down the rules, Kakashi was just doing what he could to set boundaries before he too caved to the Naruto puppy eyes. The blonde was thankfully oblivious, as she nodded along before barrelling over to the counter.  
Watching as she went, Obito scratched at the back of his head, following after his blonde team-mate. It was quite strange how after a year of floundering, constant shifts in their team dynamic, they seemed to have settled into some form of pattern. Every time they'd go out to train, they'd grab a take-out first -with Naruto using one of her fancy seal to keep it warm- before training for a few hours, lunch, more training if they didn't have a mission, then they'd go off for their respective homes. Life was pretty good actually.

.

After Naruto's monster order along with the shadow clones to carry them, the three of them turned to face their usual training grounds. A few craters were scattered across the grass, leftovers from their epic battle yesterday, but nothing that'd get in the way too much. Hell, if need be they could probably be used for cover. However, it would appear they weren't the only ones alone within their training grounds.

Besides Obito, Kakashi skidded to a halt, dark eyes going round when he spotted the occupant of the clearing. Yet before either boy could warn her, Naruto had began making her way over, rolling up the sleeve of her jacket as if she were about to take out the trash.

"Oi! You!"

Both boy's cringed, watching as the black head of hair whipped around to look at the owner of the voice.  
Naruto stumbled then, taking a step back in shock and raising her hands into a basic defensive posture. Gai stared back, peering at Naruto and paying absolutely no attention whatsoever to her two team-mates.

"Erm, hi?" Naruto grumbled lamely, offering up a sheepish wave. Obito could see why she was probably so, disconnected.  
Gai had apparently changed his choice in clothing; covering his body was a skin tight green suit. The little skin that Kakashi was showing appeared to be taking on the same colour, and Obito could sympathise with the whole feeling sick thing. If that was his rival- he shuddered, thanking the god's Naruto had already made herself his rival. It clearly could have been worse. A lot worse.

.

And then, Obito saw Gai's eyes widened as he fully took in Naruto in all of her blonde haired glory. He shot over to her, much quicker than what Obito was sure most Genin could move, and he dropped to one knee, having managed to catch her hand before Naruto could shake the shook of Gai off.

"You are an angel!"

Obito couldn't help it, he fell over. Kakashi had slammed the butt of his palm against his frontal skull, scowling. Even though the two of them wouldn't admit to it, they were both waiting for Naruto's reaction to the rather bold statement from Gai.

However, when there was a full ten seconds of silence, Obito finally plucked up the courage to approach the two.

"Erm, Naruto?" He peered around to see the girl's face, and then stopped.  
Naruto seemed to have been frozen in time, her eyes wide and staring down at Gai like she had never seen anything stranger. And though Gai was quite odd, Obito was sure she'd seen stranger. He almost bet Shisui on it.

"Naruto? An unusual name for a beautiful kunoichi like yourself. Do not worry though, I will do my best to protect you."

Oh god, that smile!  
Obito cringed backwards, grimacing as he did so. Somehow though, those blindingly bright sparkles seemed to wake up his female team-mate, for she threw herself at Gai. For a moment, Obito felt the strangest of emotions, almost jealously?  
That was until he realized Naruto wasn't planning to land a smacker on Gai, at least, not the one the Taijutsu expert was hoping for. Her fist slammed into his cheek, sending the spandex wearing boy soaring through the air in a perfect arch, heading for the river. He landed with a splash and Naruto straightened her stance, shuddering.

"I feel sorry for you Naruto," Obito muttered, blinking at the river as Naruto made her way back to the two of them.

.

As expected, Gai surfaced from the river pretty quickly, making his way over and looking between the three of them. And of course, there was a beautifully large bruise upon the black haired boy's face; Naruto was in no way out of shape when it came to Taijutsu.

"Ah, I see how it is Kakashi. My rival, you have stolen the fairest Naruto's heart!"  
Kakashi choked, looking to Naruto with his pale skin aflame with a bright red blush upon his face.

"I challenge you to a duel for her heart."  
Naruto snorted, stepping forwards before Kakashi even got a chance to. Obito couldn't her but smile ever so slightly, biting his lip in an attempt not to say anything. Wait, what had Gai said? Kakashi had Naruto's heart.  
No way in hell, Naruto was much too smart to fall for a heartless guy like that! Wasn't she?

"Kakashi does not have my heart. No one does. If you wanna date, come fight me for it! I don't need him defending me!"  
Obito and Kakashi shared a glance, and for once, they were in complete agreement. How fun it would be to watch Naruto kick the stuffing from Gai. She's already rolled up the sleeves of her coat, spat into her palms and rubbed them together as if gearing up for a wrestling match.  
Gai seemed a bit taken a back -rightfully so- but fell into a loose fighting stance.

.

Yet, the fight was over before it could begin, because a bright yellow flash appeared behind Naruto.

"My my, what are you four doing?" Minato-sensei grinned at the lot of them and Obito couldn't bite back his groan of disappointment. Naruto sent Gai a glare, promising him a thrashing later as Minato tucked the younger, flailing blonde under his arm, laughing nervously and reassuring Gai they'd get their sparring match at another time.

"Come on kids, I've got a mission to talk to you about."

It wasn't until they were nearing Minato's house that Naruto realized she'd left her ramen back with Gai.

* * *

**I'm terribly sorry this is so short; someone quit at work so I had to pull the shifts they had. And this is the only day off I have this week. So between school and work, I haven't had too much time to write. Sorry about that. I know this chapter is short, but I wanted to get it up today. And hey, Gai!**

**.**

**As for the chapter, I wanted to start out with something light hearted before we get into the war stuff. We'll be getting closer to the borders next chapter, and one of my favourite characters will be popping up soon enough. I hope you'll all like Part 3; now I've got the plan for it together I can start cracking out the chapters when I've got the time. **

**.**

**1) Guest- I'm sorry the update wasn't as quick as usual, but it's finally here now.  
2) WarFlower- _Oh my, your username is gorgeous! _Anyway, thank you so much. I don't feel my writing is superb, but hey-ho, I'm certainly not complaining at that compliment.  
3) The Manly Man- Alternate dimension, alternate time-line, something like that. For this story, I'm going by the movie 'Back to the Future's' idea of time being a straight line, and by going back and changing something, it results in an alternate time-line being played out. Major events will be in place, one's that Naruto's presence don't change too much, but there will certainly be a lot of change.  
4) Guest- Yes, Kakashi is very cute confused. And by that logic, he'll be getting even cuter soon enough.**

**.**

**Okay, I'm over 300 reviews, and on 571 followers up for this story. This is insane and so unexpected and so happy I just hope I don't disapoint. Thank you all for reading,**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	14. Part 3,2

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.2**

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

"The Kumo border?" Naruto scratched at the back of her head, mind whirling.  
Running into Gai had been majorly embarrassing. He'd been just like Lee with Sakura. Frowning at the thought of her old friends, Naruto turned her attention to those that were already alive. Mainly Killer Bee and Yugito Nii. Whilst she had never met the latter before her death, she was quite eager to do so now. And mainly warn the two about the threat of Madara. But how to do that when they were on opposite ends of the war?

Rubbing at her chin and only half paying attention, Naruto nodded along to whatever it was her father was saying, mentally prodding at Kurama as she did so. As usual, there was a low grumble in reply, but even Kurama seemed to have picked up at the mention of Kumo.

'_**We'll talk shortly brat, when you've got some time alone.**_'

"-so meet at the gate in ten minutes, okay?"

"Of course captain. Naruto out!" Leaping up from where she'd been sat within the confines of Minato's living room, Naruto made a dash for freedom, jumping through the open window and bouncing from the window-ledge to the nearest roof. The huge grand gate's of Konoha were right in front of her and she took off, rubbing her hands against the scroll hanging from her belt. For the past two months, she'd taken to carrying her 'pack' everywhere, hidden away within the seals up on her scroll. Not only was it a massive time-saver, but convenient too. One never knew when emergency supplies would be needed.

.

Upon reaching the gates, Naruto dropped down next to the gate guard, smiling. Daikoku smiled back at her and Naruto made her way over. She remembered seeing him about the academy, and whilst she'd never personally studied under him, she'd yet to had any run ins with him either. She was completely neutral towards him.

"Hey kiddo, Naruto right?" Nodding her head, Naruto pocketed one hand and snatched up the pen in her other, giving the document that was presented to her a quick once over. The usual leaving of the village form, she didn't even need to look to sign it.

"Cheers," Naruto mused before making her way over to the nearby trees. Some of the roots had clambered above ground and were now twisting about upon one tree-base, creating a rather splendid resting spot for a Genin as small as herself. Resting both hands in her lap, clasped together, Naruto drew in a sharp breath through her nose, letting her mind slowly float deeper into the levels of unconsciousness.

* * *

.

_Drip._

_._

"**There's something wrong brat.**"  
Naruto frowned, blinking her eyes open to the sight of Kurama sat before her. He was very much awake compared to the previous day, in which he'd been almost completely out of it. As in, snoring dramatically loud out of it. The fox heard her thoughts but said nothing of it, instead simply snorting, his red eyes scanning the corners of her mind, as if searching out an intruder.

"What's up Kurama?"

"**There has been a disturbance.**"  
Naruto paused, blinking ever so slowly before looking over at the fox, tearing her gaze away from the direction that he'd been looking in.

"A disturbance?"

"**Amongst the tailed beasts.**"

"Come of Kurama, you're making less sense than usual!" Dropping back onto the water and folding her arms across her chest, Naruto grimaced, looking over at the fox with her best attempt at a glare. Though secretly, worry had settled within the pit of her stomach. A disturbance could not be good, whatever it was.

_._

_Drip, drip._

_._

The two of them sat there for a moment, Kurama attempting to sense out whatever it was that was bothering him as Naruto desperately tried to follow in his footsteps. Unfortunately though, Kurama would always be the better sensor. If he was struggling to pick up the ripples of this disturbance, what chance did she have? None would be the correct answer, but it did not stop her from worrying anyway. Slowly but surely, the foxes eyes slide over to look at her, the tails flickering about behind him a sure sign of his impatience with this current predicament.

"What do you want me to do Kurama?" The fox snorted, rolling his eyes in something akin to amusement, at her helpful attitude or stupidity, she wasn't too sure. Maybe both knowing the fox.

"**You can do nothing. Just keep going as you are, and I shall attempt to contact the rest of the Bijū.**"

.

_Drip, drip, drip._

_._

"Attempt?" Naruto cocked her head to one side as innocently as she possibly could, raising one eyebrow and offering up her very best smile in hopes that the Kurama would spill more beans than what he usually coughed up. By the narrowing of his eyes, the fox seemed to have caught onto what she was doing too; he laid out atop the watery surface of her mind, head resting in his paws till they were at eye-level. Staring up into the big, rounded red eyes, Naruto offered up a light grin and Kurama snorted. The force of his breath sent her pony-tails whipping back and she stumbled slightly, regardless of how much she tried not to.

"**When we came back brat, for whatever reason I have not been recognised as one of the Bijū. Whether this is due to the fact there is another of myself currently resting within this time-period, or simply because I don't belong, I am not sure. Regardless, it is most certainly a problem and I am doing all I can to sort it out. Until then, there is not a lot more you can do, unless you can get your perverted god-father to start looking for any information related to the topic of time-travel.**"

"I'll ask him," Naruto muttered, fixing her hair before smiling at the fox. "Thanks for explaining Kurama. Good luck."

"**You too brat.**"

* * *

Blinking wearily, it took Naruto a few minutes to realize her body was being shaken about in a rather disjointed fashion. Peeking out from beneath her eyelashes, Naruto frowned a bit when she spotted the cause of her discomfort.

"Obito? What's up?"  
The raven haired boy stared back at her, eyes hidden behind the deep orange of his goggles and Naruto did her best not to smile because hey, orange. It was a sexy colour. She wasn't going to complain about her team-mates rather awesome fashion sense. Now if only they could stuff Kakashi and Minato into the colour.

"You okay Naruto? You've been out of it for ages. Kakashi even ate your ramen."

"WHAT!" Leaping to her feet, -and consequently pushing Obito from her way as she did so- Naruto rounded on her fellow team-mate, one finger pointing at him accusingly. "You didn't!"

"I was hungry and you left it. Even the wild-life could have helped themselves to it."

.

With an enraged cry, Naruto threw herself forwards, hands seeking Kakashi's slim, mask covered neck. Though there was a slight battle, Naruto's hands finally found her target and closed around it, clamped tight. The two of them hit the floor, Kakashi withering about in a feeble attempt to free himself from the choke-hold, but it was already too late. Naruto had managed to get the boy onto his back, and now she was straddling his hips, cutting off his escape route. The promise of a one-way ticket to hell was all that rested upon her face, fire-and brimstone in her eyes.

"You cough that back up! Cough it up now!"

However, her murderous rampage was cut short in the prime of it's life; Minato had grabbed a-hold of her shirt and pulled her off the silver haired boy who's skin had been taking on a rather magnificent shade of blue.

"Naru-chan, please don't try and strangle Kakashi while we're on a mission. Do it after, that way I won't have to fill out the forms."

"Okay sensei." Dropped back on her feet, Naruto mock glared at Kakashi as Obito snickered away besides her and she tried not to roll her eyes in sheer fondness of her team and their actions.  
Mission failed.

"Okay team, we're heading out to Kumo. Let's go go go!"

* * *

**Kakashi**

**カカシ**

Rubbing wearily at his sure to be bruised neck, Kakashi sent Naruto's form a rather irritated glare. He was as the back of their group, acting as the scout for the rest of them, picking out whatever they could have missed. Between both himself and Minato, Naruto and Obito were bouncing from tree-top to tree-top, ideally chatting away about Obito's baby cousins. It was almost sickening.  
Ninja were not suppose to have any form of emotional attachments, they ultimately compromised the mission, which would result in several different, dangerous outcomes. Which could range from the death of a client to all out war. Kakashi did not want to be associated with another traitor of Konoha, his father was one enough. If even one of his team-mates compromised the mission...

He trailed off from the thought in his head, frowning to himself before letting out a long, low breath. He honestly wasn't too sure what he would do.  
Naruto was on the same level as himself even if she was a Genin. And even then, that was only because she insisted on taking the Chũnin exams with Obito. Companionship, it sickened him. Yet, he highly doubted Naruto would create a problem completing a mission, she seemed to love Konoha more than anything, what with her whole speech of wanting to be Hokage and break the cycle of hatred or whatever. Kakashi usually tuned her out 'round about then until the word training would pop up in her speech. Then he'd start paying attention.  
No, Kakashi couldn't seen Naruto doing anything stupid...

.

Slowly, his eyes slid over to Obito's form, who was hoping along beside the blonde with a cheerful grin spread across his face. Now, Kakashi wasn't cold-hearted, he just didn't feel anything. Or, he felt very little. Though before Obito's attitude had irked him, through the progress he'd made in training these past two months, his gritty determination that was actually starting to amount to something, Kakashi would begrudgingly give the boy his rightly deserved props.

He was trying, - and most importantly- improving under the careful guidance of Minato-sensei, along with the albeit much less careful guidance of Naruto. He wasn't about to complain about a stronger team, but there was a part of him that was anticipating -because worrying would mean emotions came into play, and that was a no-no- a mission gone bad because of their closeness as a team.

He already had that terrible feeling that Naruto had a crush on one of them, regardless of what she'd told Gai. He'd seen grown women deny affections, when there were all sorts of tell-tale signs that they were most definitely lying through their teeth.

.

His pondering was cut short though, as Minato gave a sharp whistle. The four of them dropped onto the forest floor, Naruto crouched over like a feral cat whilst Obito just about managed to land without tumbling over. Both himself and Minato-sensei landed with the seasoned grace of a shinobi, but that was really no surprise. Naruto should have copied them, but had apparently decided to go for a bit of a flare in her landing, coiled and ready to spring the second something moved into sight.

"Camp's about a two minute walk that way, remember, we're not here to fight, but to finish helping the negotiators. We'll be a lot better off if we can get Kumo on our side."  
Nodding, because war meant death of useful shinobi, Kakashi adjusted his stance into something a little more relaxed, with both his team-mates following after a moment of hesitation. Obito seemed pretty calm now if the mission jitter were to be ignored, but Naruto was a different book altogether. Whilst she looked at peace, Kakashi could see the tense coils of her muscles as she took of her coat to combat the humidity, the muscles in her back taut. Though whatever it was that was making her jumpy, Kakashi couldn't say he was too sure.

Perhaps being too close to where they were fighting? No, Naruto had already mentioned she'd been on the war-front before; that she'd seen people die before her eyes before. So it couldn't possibly be that. Killer Intent should by proxy, mean nothing to her.

"Kakashi, you okay?"  
Frowning because Obito should be asking her that question instead -like Kakashi would worry for emotionally stability of others- the silver haired boy nodded curtly before turning his attention back to Minato.

.

Their blond haired sensei had made his way through the throng of tree's, holding back the rather large leaves so that the three could still see him.

"Camp's closer than I thought."

There was a low growl from in front of their sensei and Kakashi's head snapped up.

"What the hell?!" Naruto made to dash forwards, but hands closed around their sensei and suddenly the blond was pulled rather viciously away from their sight, the only evidence of a kidnapper being the evil cackle that echoed through the clearing.

.

As both Naruto and Obito armed themselves with kunai and charged, Kakashi sighed, following after them.

* * *

**So, here we go. I told you this chapter would be up quicker, so I hope the lack of length to it isn't too big a pain. **

**.**

**Can't reply to reviews, on a quick run. GTG, sorry. **

**.**

**The amount of love this story is getting is insane and so unexpected and so happy I just hope I don't disappoint. Thank you all for reading,**

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	15. Part 3,3

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.3**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

"Oh my! You got more of them!"  
Obito frowned at this crazy lady that was currently crushing his sensei against her rather well endowed chest. The only thing that surprised him more than Minato-sensei's smiling face in the light of his current 'kidnapping', was the fact Kakashi's face was one of shamed recognition.

"Good afternoon Kushina-san," Kakashi grumbled, putting his kunai away before turning to look at the slack jawed Naruto. The blonde girl was still clinging tightly to her kunai, but her shoulders had visibly dropped from their previously tense posture, leaving her blatantly staring at the red-head.  
By now, several of the stationed Konoha shinobi had paused in their daily routine, each one chuckling or motioning to the arrival of Minato. This didn't seem to bother Kushina too much, because she continued clutching Minato to her, one hands stroking through his hair and blissfully ignorant at the fascinating blue shade the Jonin's lips were taking on.

"Erm, I think Minato-sensei wants to breathe," Obito muttered, scuffling the edge of one sandal against the floor. This Kushina woman was rather, odd. He couldn't quite explain it in truth. Her skin was pale, just a few shades lighter than Minato's, but it looked much lighter against her shock red hair. The locks reached half-way down her thighs, flaring out ever so slightly at the bottom, as if she'd just let it down out of a pony-tail or bob or something. Her eyes were a light plum colour, and the orbs slowly slid from his team down towards the blond man she was currently 'hugging'.

"Don't mind him, if he wanted out, he'd be out. Now, introduce yourselves! I already know Kaka-brat; you've gotten taller by the way."  
Nevertheless, as she spoke Kushina released their sensei, much to Obito's relief. The blond just laughed a little, rubbing sheepishly at the back of his head whilst gesturing for him to introduce himself. Scowling and crossing his arms across his chest, Obito peered up at this strange woman that stood before them.

"My name's Obito Uchiha, and I'm gonna be Hokage," sticking his tongue out at the woman as she cooed at him, Obito turned his gaze towards Naruto, who had finally managed to put her kunai away and straighten up.

"He's lying. I'm gonna be Hokage; my name's Naruto." Sticking out her hand for her shake, Naruto raised her brows in a silent challenge to Kushina. Instead of taking the younger female's hand though, Kushina snatched her up into a hug, laughing as she did so.

"Oh god, this one looks like she's stole your face. Ha, this is excellent."  
Naruto was unceremoniously dropped onto the floor and Kushina instantly went for her cheeks, pinching and pulling them about in all different directions. Somehow, Naruto was smiling through the pain of it all, and Obito well and truly felt for her. He had aunts that still seemed to think pinching a ninja's cheeks was acceptable. Which, no, it wasn't.

"They want you out of the front-lines by the way," Kushina mused, running a hand through her hair and pointing back towards the main body of the camp. "So that means your little ducklings get to join me in the fetching of food. Gear up kids, we set off now!"

.

Obito was quick to learn several things about Kushina. First, she was Minato-sensei's girlfriend. Second, she had a wicked temper. And third, she was more of a chatterbox than both he and Naruto combined.  
Currently she was nagging Kakashi, the most observant out of the three of them, for an update on how the village was back home, who was sleeping with who, the usual gossip. When Kakashi had tried steering the topic towards the war by off-handedly mentioning the Konoha' bombings, Kushina had waved it off, having apparently been informed of it a week or so ago. And with Kakashi and Kushina up leading the way, that left both Obito and Naruto walking along, trailing up the back.  
Beside him, Naruto had both hands placed behind her head and a cheer-whistle escaping her lips as she skipped along. Clearly she wasn't too bothered about being so close to the border, never mind how close they were to an actual war-zone. But then again, she had said something about this before hand hadn't she? How she'd seen things other Genin hadn't, had been so close to the war-front that nothing truly bothered her any-more. The Uchiha elders said that shinobi came in one of three-stages, the green-horn stage, in which everything bothered you, the uneased stage, in which you pretended nothing bothered you but it was ripping you up inside, and then there was the third stage. The one where you lost the thousand yard stare and instead just accepted things everything that came your way without even batting an eyelid at it.  
If Obito had to guess, he'd say Naruto was in that last category. She wasn't an ordinary genin, that was for sure.

"Hey Obito, what's with the eyes? If I didn't know better, then I'd think your aunts were right," Naruto accompanied her accusation with a smooth wiggling of her blonde eyebrows, speaking low enough that Kakashi and Kushina didn't hear her, but loud enough that Obito couldn't miss it.

"Shut up Naruto. I'm just thinking."  
She laughed at his pathetic -he'd admit to it being not too good in his head but never aloud- comeback, nodding her head back and forth to a tune only she truly knew. Around them, the forest was alive with life and Obito was more than happy to pay attention to that instead, and stop pondering over his impossible team-mate. For now.

.

Currently, they were making their way down a recently worn path, heading out towards a small village by the name of Yugakure. Kakashi had explained it had once been a ninja village, but had grown tired of their ways, and was now more of a peaceful village, well known for it's hot-springs. They'd been supplying the Konoha ninja that had been fighting to stop Lightning country expanding on their territory, and evidently enough it was working. There was finally talks about peace between Leaf and Lightning, so with any luck, Minato-sensei would be able to sort it all out before they even got back to camp.  
Just because they officially weren't allowed on the front-lines, being Genin and what-not, that didn't mean that they wouldn't be expected to defend the camp if it came under attack. And whilst Obito was prideful, he wasn't that stupid. He already knew the only chance he had of beating a Jonin was alongside Naruto and Kakashi. The sooner the war was over on this front, the better.

"Kushina-san? How long have you been out here?"  
At some point during Obito's musings, Naruto had skipped forwards and was now walking alongside Kushina. Kakashi, having seen his chance for escape, had now taken the blonde's place walking alongside him, staying perfectly out of Kushina's sight.

"Ever since the start of the war between Lightning and Leaf. I have a, a grudge against them, you could say, and I think the sentiment is returned on their side. So the Third thought it was best to stick me where they could see me."

"Oh," Naruto scuffed her shoe along the ground, seemingly mulling something over in her head, as if picking her words carefully.

"I heard that they tried kidnapping you once... Is that why?"

"You're rather well informed for a Genin, aren't you?" Kushina had stopped now, staring down at Naruto who was looking up just as defiantly at the red-headed woman. Between the two of them, Obito and Kakashi shared a knowing glance. It was like a volcano meeting a tornado, nothing good could come of this.

"Ero-sensei told me."  
Now Kushina gave a hoot of laughter and Obito knew they were doomed, because the volcano and the tornado were working together.

"You're okay kid, you're okay." A hand came down on Naruto's head, ruffling the blonde hair so much like their sensei's and Obito knew that Naruto had to have a gift. How else could she win over everyone she met so easily?

* * *

Yugakure was a small village, much smaller than what Konoha itself was. It was situated high upon a set of cliffs, overlooking a ravine. Steps had been made to allow ease of access, with a worn red railing allowing for some form of safety for passing civilian travellers.

"Okay team, we'll catch some sleep at the inn, gather food supplies in morning, and then we'll head back to camp. I'll go book a room, you lot go get some grub in you. Got it?"  
Beside him, Naruto nodded, her blue eyes slowly sliding around the village before she smiled slightly. She'd obviously been here before, probably with Jiraiya back when they were travelling, so Obito was going to stick to her like glue. Naruto would know where she was going, and this little village didn't look like it held more than one hotel. All was well.  
Kakashi seemed to have come to the same conclusion, because he fell into step alongside Naruto as she took off walking, blonde pigtails bouncing back and fourth as she went. Shrugging, Obito jogged up after her, stuffing his hands into his pockets and frowning as they went along.

.

Shortly after Kushina left them, Naruto had managed to seek out an eatery, a worn looking store with red tarps hanging over the entrance.

"Came here with Jiraiya once," Naruto mused, confirming Obito's earlier theory as she dropped into one of the booths, "we were just passing though, probably four or so years ago I think. But I remember this village. Ran into one of it's missing nin before I met Jiraiya. Guy didn't bother with me as I was then, too weak. Just let me run along," she spoke whilst perusing the menu, one finger running along downside all the options of their dinner as her blue eyes hardened. "One day, I'm gonna find him again. Because he was too dangerous to let him go running around for too long."  
Kakashi rolled his dark black eyes, but didn't seem to disbelieving that the blonde would manage it. Obito knew the girl would manage it as well. He could see her as a specialized ANBU, hunting down the missing nin in that strange glowing kekkei genkai form she had, that was, once she had complete control over it.

"I'll take some yakitori please."

"Karaage."  
The waitress scribbled down both Naruto and Kakashi's order before turning her brown eyes on him and Obito snatched the menu out of the blonde's hands.

"Buta shougayaki, and can we get some dango after?"  
The woman nodded, running off back towards the kitchen, politely ignoring how Naruto slumped down into her seat with a low groan.

"What's up Naruto? You're not usually this..."

"Quiet," Kakashi helpfully supplied, and Obito gave him a little glare in an attempt to warn him to be a bit more sensitive.  
But, Kakashi was right, Naruto was being quiet. She hadn't really done anything that was her usual style today, not since they set out from the village now that he thought about it.

"I'm tired, like really tired. I feel completely drained in all honesty, and I'm not entirely sure as to why. I'm hoping that getting some food in me will help, but if not, then it's gonna be a good night's rest." Now that she said it, Obito did notice it; Naruto wore her tiredness on her face, from the low drooping of her eyelids to the slight drop in her usual smile. It was only a small difference, not noticeable if you weren't looking for it, but it was there.

.

As the waitress returned with the food and Naruto dug in with gusto, Obito sat back and frown, only taking small bites. For a moment, he wondered how Minato-sensei would be coping out on the front-lines before dismissing it. Their sensei was awesome, he'd be fine. For now, he clearly needed to keep and eye on Naruto, and from the look on Kakashi's face, he was thinking along the same lines too.

* * *

**I'm so, so sorry this took so long, and that it's not exactly very long. Unfortunately, Laptop II died during production of this chapter, and not having a penny to my name, I had to wait until my birthday, yesterday, in order to have enough money to pay for a new one. So now that STARK -my 3rd Laptop ever- and I have been acquainted, I can proudly bring you this chapter. **

**.**

**On the chapter; Of course Minato wouldn't let himself be caught unwillingly, it'd take a small -or large- army to manage this. I'm guessing from his sensor skills he'd have know who was snatching him up, hence him allowing them to do so.  
And Kushina! How can you not love Kushina? She's amazing. I'm quite surprised no one guessed it'd be her to be honest, no one seems to have questioned where she was in this story. And of course, worrying about Kurama is taking it's tole on Naruto. **

**.**

**So, it shouldn't be long till 400 reviews, so the fluff will probably be coming at the end of this arch. I'm ceraintly looking forwards to writing it, so thank you for giving all those lovely reviews and making it possible. **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	16. Part 3,4

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.4**

* * *

**Minato**  
**ミナト**

Taking in a low, sharp breath as the dawn sun began to peek over the tree-line of the east, Minato Namikaze let his eyes slide over the collection of troops that were beside him. They'd been slowly gaining ground throughout the night, though worrying news had come through that the battle was not quite over. Apparently, negotiation between the two sides had preformed a massive 'U-turn' in the middle of the night, and it was only thanks to the regular visits of a messenger hawk that the lot of them hadn't gone racing forwards blind.  
Personally, Minato wasn't fond of going over the political details, who was? He was a simple man who wanted a simple thing, peace. And though it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep searching, keep hoping that that peace would come about, he wasn't truly out of hope yet.

.

Pausing in his dashing, Minato held out one arm, signally for the group around him to grind to a halt. Instantly, the Inuzuka and his hound began sampling the air, whilst the Akimichi leapt forwards, clutching at his weapon. Pressing one finger to the ground, Minato let his eyes narrow ever so slightly in concentration before drawing out one three pronged kunai. With the agile grace of a seasoned ninja, he threw it towards the thick bark of a nearby tree, listening to the scuttling feet of their enemy.

"O..On that yellow paper, it's the shunshin no jutsu! No doubt about it, it's the Yellow Flash! We should get out of here quick!"  
Three appeared from the under growth, and Minato crouched low, drawing another kunai as he did so. The one that had spoken was of light skin, with the Kumo headband wrapped around his skull like a bandanna. The typical uniform of a cloud ninja, and there didn't seem to be any clan ties that Minato recognised, so he was quick to dismiss that one as a threat.

The second person he noticed was also the biggest, easily taller than Minato himself. He was dark-skinned, with light blond hair that seemed almost drained compared to the bright yellow of his own. The sleeves of his black shirt were torn off, leaving ragged seems that stuck out from around the typical Kumo jacket. And though he didn't have any form of clan markings, Minato could easily recognise this man, from the tattoos upon his shoulder to the dark glare that was directed his way.

"Ah, so it's him... The ninja who, alone, put a stop to our mission to recover the nine-tails," his voice was low and deep, much like the Raikage. Although that was to be expected, because after all, they were related.

"And you, you're the son of the hidden cloud's third Raikage, A, aren't you?" Raising his arms until he was in an almost defensive position, Minato let his eyes slip over to the final member of the cloud group.  
He wasn't like the other two, neither speaking or with his body language. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of darkened sun-glasses, making it impossible to tell just where he was looking, but Minato was no fool. He was assessing the lot of them, like any other ninja. Two blades were curled up in his hands, held with an confident ease. A swordsman then. Perhaps though, what was worrying Minato the most, was that this teen before him, and he couldn't be much more than a teen, gave him the exact same vibe that Naruto did.

.

Forcing himself to return his gaze to A, even though mere seconds had passed, Minato let an easy smile slip over his face, "rumour has it you've got a pretty fast attack." And then, the teen burst to life, sprouting the one of the most foul mouthed sentences he'd heard in a long while. As the cloud ninja twitched, clearly trying not to turn on their own, Minato took quick advantage of the momentary distraction, hand slipping into his weapons pouch before unloading a good lot of kunai in all directions.

"Everyone, stay where you are! I'll take care of this!" The dull thuds as the metal landed in earth and wood surrounded him, but it wasn't so loud that he missed the crackle that filled the air. Eyes shooting over to look at A, the bright blond braced himself as the man came racing towards him, wrapped in electricity. It was fast, Minato would admit, and it certainly gave him little time to think about anything else. Had he been another ninja, one with less speed than himself, he would most certainly be dead. However, he was Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and future Hokage of the Leaf.  
So when the fist was but centimetres from his face, there was but a sole yellow flash, and the Minato was crouching low on a tree trunk to the right of his previous position. He heard the white skinned Kumo nin, along with the Inuzuka on his own team, gasp in awe, whilst A's eyes desperately tried to track him. Another kunai thrown, and suddenly Minato was behind A again, kunai grasped in both hand and feet kicking at the cloud ninja's back.

.

And then, there it was. A tentacle, easily as wide as his waist, perhaps bigger. Flicking his previous opponent out of the way, the limb took the slicing blow from the kunai, the detached extremity flopping to the ground uselessly. It was only as he passed by that Minato fully registered just what this new attack was made of, and he couldn't quite help that shock that coloured his face, eyes darting over to the suspected source.

"This is-"

"Sorry Bee," A was leaping back, landing besides this 'Bee', whom had a full tentacle growing out of his back. Mind racing to catch up with the situation, Minato quickly found his answer, as did the rest of his team.

"Is he, the eight-tails Jinchuriki?!"  
He understood the Inuzuka's concern. There had been no Intel that a Jinchuriki was in the surrounding area, never-mind the fact he clearly had quite a bit of control over the beast.

A shrill ringing sound filled the clearing for but a second, but Minato did not take his eyes from the enemy, even as he was reminded that they were to begin pulling back.

"I haven't even started yet, as you can see."  
The four of them stopped, Minato even turning back to look at the teen addressing them.

"I'm the eight-tails, fresh-rappin' Killer Bee." He was somewhat like Kushina in the way he dealt with his burden, Minato noted. He wasn't ashamed, not at all. Even going so far as to publicly announce himself like this, something which even Kushina wouldn't do.  
And yet, his speech has such a distinct flair of Naruto it was almost suspicious.

.

The next few moments were nothing but fast movement, as A came at him and Minato was gone, only to reappear behind the Jinchuriki. The teen wasn't half bad though, because he'd either recognised the seal on his transformed self, or correctly guessed at his target, because there was a blade not too far from his stomach, curled the Jinchuriki's hand. Despite himself, Minato was impressed. "I'll take you out too if you follow through. You stab me, I stab you." The constant rhythms were rather odd though.  
Perhaps a coping mechanism?

"You may be my enemy, but I like your style. You move like a true killer shinobi."  
There was a tense silence, none of the other daring to move. The was something almost poetic about a stand-off between two shinobi, one wrong move that could lead to death. Minato had been in very few situation's himself, but this was certainly one of the most interesting ones. A looked as if he wanted to charge head first at him, regardless of any potential problems for himself, but the sight of him so close to his brother seemed to have halted his rash attitude for now. His own team were, understandably, twitchy. Now A was closer to then and Minato was right on the other side of the clearing, three Kumo ninja's between them. Slowly drawing his kunai back, Minato smiled slightly as Bee copied his movements. A flash of chakra and he was on the other side of the clearing now, facing the three ninja's with a light smile on his face.

.

However, before he could even say that the four of them would take their leave now, the Jinchuriki doubled over, one arm shooting out to steady himself against the sudden influx of the chakra in the clearing. A's eyes, wide with anger and disbelief, shot back and forth from the two of them before finally settling on Minato, something a lot worse than a scowl on his face.

"What did you do to him?!" It came out as a hiss, the deadly voice of a man that was on the verge of losing a family member and Minato held his hands up in surrender, eyes just as wide in shock.

"Nothing! This isn't my chakra!"

"Calm it bro," the Jinchuriki was shaking, and having knocked his sunglasses from his face whilst trying to steady himself, it was possible to see the teens eyes were slowly drooping, lower and lower. Like he hadn't had a good nights rest in a long while.

"It's sure to do with the eight, I feel like a dead-weight..." He swayed slightly, eyes slipping closed before he forced them back open.  
The rest of Minato's team took the opportunity to leave, but Minato forced himself to stay put. He was just a kid after all, it wouldn't hurt to make sure he didn't die for whatever reason. And then, the eight-tails Jinchuriki dropped like a sack of potato's to the floor, out like a light. Minato was no stupid man, so he didn't take off and make himself look that much more suspicious.  
Instead, he seated himself, determined to at least get some message of peace across to the group, even if they were glaring daggers at him as they attended to Bee.

* * *

**Kakashi  
****カカシ****  
**

They'd just been finishing up buying the last of the groceries when it happened. So far, the rest of the day had been pretty normal; Kakashi had awoken first, followed by Naruto, then Kushina, and lastly, Obito. Breakfast came in the form of a meaty stew Kushina managed to throw together, and then they'd set out, ready to fill up the storage scrolls full of food. Naruto had been her usual self, a bratty, exceedingly happy child that bounced around from store to store, haggled to get the best possible deals she could, and then laughed very loudly when she'd been called a shrimp. This was followed by the girl attempted to stuff her newly bought turnip down the vendors throat, but he'd managed to pull her away in time, avoiding what would have possibly been a civilian casualty. You never could know with Naruto, she was just that unpredictable.

.

As they were walking down the street, Naruto skipping ahead and bouncing about in her usual way, Kakashi had been biting his lip from demanding that she try to act more like a ninja. And then she'd just dropped. She'd been in mid-jump when he looked at her, and then the next moment, she'd dropped faster like a blind roofer. All the space of a blink.  
Obito instantly dropped whatever he was carrying, rushing to Naruto's side and slapping her round the face. Kakashi would quickly admit to the fact he was fully expecting the girl to leap up and loudly shout how she'd once again tricked them, but that was not the case. The blonde's head only lolled to the side at Obito's oh-so-gentle nudge, body still in a rather uncomfortable looking position. It was as if someone had just torn her soul right out of her, and Kakashi was not comfortable with that thought.

Kushina was quick to hand over the scrolls she was carrying, placing them in his care as she rushed over to the young blonde, dropping to her knees as she too slapped her around the face. When it became apparent that this certainly wasn't going to be working any-time soon, Kushina scooped the girl up, gesturing for Obito to collect both his own, and Naruto's discarded scrolls.

"What happened Kushina-san?" Kakashi mused, having plodded the short distance over to inspect the girl in the red-head's arms. Naruto's face wasn't the usual peaceful visage that came to her features as she slept, instead it was one of twisted concentration; Kakashi could remember when Minato and Kushina had tried meditating, and the latter had pulled off the exact same expression.

"I'm not too sure Kakashi, she'd breathing fine, has a pulse- I don't know! I'm not a medic nin!"

"Maybe we should try the local healer?"  
Kushina looked at him as if Kakashi had just shown her the answer to every problem in the world. Sometimes it was annoying, being the constant voice of reason amongst his team. Though he could push past that, because that meant he'd be on his way to being a better ninja.

"Why didn't I think of that?" The red-head hissed, turning her glare on the nearest civilian and demanding to know her newest destination. Taking one look back at Obito to make sure the boy knew what was happening, Kakashi took off after Kushina's disappearing form, finding that the unsettled feeling within his stomach still persisted, even when he tried to shake it off.  
Because something was clearly wrong with Naruto.

* * *

**The weather has been oh so nice here in England, I was actually able to sit outside in a skirt today, in the sun, and feel warmth. Our week of summer has arrived, and I am very, very pleased with it.  
So, it is in this summery mood that I present the next chapter, and hope that you all very much like it. **

**.**

**On the chapter; Killer Bee. Oh, he is most certainly one of my favourites, though I am struggling with his speech patterns. Some of this dialogue is from the A v. Minato fight scene, so please forgive me for that, but I wanted to stay true to that part of the storyline. Regardless, here we go. These next few bits are going to be the grounding of most of the plot, so I hope I'll get everything right and that things are not too confusing. **

**.**

**As for update speed, I am terribly sorry. There's not a lot I can do about it at the moment, I have one exam on the 10th and one on the 11th of June, and two on the 17th, so I am very much revising for those. But once that's over, I should be free to write. I mean, work can't claim all of my time. Right?**

**Anyway, if you're looking for something half decent to read, here's three recommendations;  
**If you're looking for some Obito-ie goodness, then I suggest both Chipped Mask (Story ID-9167209) and Obito's Excellent Adventure (Story Id-8567558), both of which involve a hell of a lot of Obito. I personally love these stories, which is why I'm mentioning them. The former is about an OC insert done incredibly well, and the other is some Obito time-travel.

My next suggestion comes in the form of The Hidden Prodigy (8832998), which is some Kakashi time-travel goodness, and I'm rather in love with it.

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	17. Part 3,5

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.5**

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

When Naruto woke, it was to a blinding white that she'd only ever seen a handful of time. She spun on foot, and was almost ecstatic to see Kurama lounging about before her, eyes narrowed but lips twisted upwards in some form of amusement at her current situation.

"That was a rather sudden nap there brat."  
There was a light glow around him that she'd come to associate with her mind-scape, and the psychedelic background was a huge give-away. She was in the place that only Jinchuriki could reach.

"We have a visitor," Kurama mused, flicking his tails in the general direction that was behind her. Sitting up, Naruto turned to face their visitor before a smile bloomed across her face. Passed out cold in front of her was Bee. He was younger, perhaps only five years older than what she was currently, but he was there. Kurama had had such a great big problem contacting the other Jinchuriki she'd began to worry, but apparently that'd all been in vain.

"I thought my chakra was fluctuating a bit. Gyūki appears to have joined us."  
The mixed breed, eight tailed beast stared down at the girl before him before a familiar smile blossomed across his face. The dull, pinky grey of it's leathery pelt was worn, and he was still missing the left horn, but he was pretty much the same beast she'd thought alongside with in the war.

"Naruto, why are you so small?" The beast knelt down to her level, eyes narrowed as it took in her present form. Naruto threw her arms open wide in acceptance, smiling at the warmth breath that Gyūki snorted whenever he breathed.

.

A low groan from beneath the tailed beasts feet though brought them to attention, and the three turned to look at the slowly waking male. Bee wasn't that much different as a teen. There was a little less muscle, and he was a little shorter, but other than that, no difference. "Bro, what happened? I feel like I fought Gyūki and got flattened."  
The Bijū in question snorted, rolling his eyes before poking at his awakening Jinchuriki with one finger. The teen's eyes must have opened, because he took a good look around before muttering about the level of funk currently around them.

"Yo, Bee-san!" Naruto was only ten or so feet away from him, but she didn't want to startle him by being too close  
This was their first time meeting; whilst Gyūki may know her, Bee was of this present time, and quite clearly did not. The other Jinchuriki's head shot up so fast Naruto had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. He cocked his head to a side before taking in the hulking form of Kurama behind her.

"I thought the nine-tails was in red, never knew she dropped dead."

"Kushina isn't dead! We're just..." Naruto trailed off, looking up at her fellow time-traveller before shrugging in a rather pathetic manner, "You explain Kurama. I suck at words."

.

As so the four of them sat down, Kurama explaining their time-travelling tale, with Gyūki backing up every word out of the foxes mouth. Bee sat back through it all, almost unreadable through the black tinted sunglasses that shaded his eyes. Naruto sat nervously against Kurama's paw, resting between two toes with her arms up beside her, spread out much like she's sit on a couch.

"Which brings us to a bigger problem, why are you here Gyūki?" Kurama's golden eyes lifted upwards, landing on the demon in question and Naruto nodded.  
The eight-tails had been extracted just before she'd left, with Bee killed in the process.

"I'm not too sure," the ox like creature murmured, resting his head in one hand and a frowning. "My memories not quite there yet, but I do remember sharingan eyes."  
Naruto felt whatever had been coiling in her stomach snap, lashing against her ribs. That was not good news for anyone. In fact, that was terrible news, completely horribly.

"I think I managed to shake off whatever was holding on to me when I travel back."  
So whoever had forced Gyūki back to them was lost somewhere within the time-line. Well, at least they had some form of warning and weren't charging in blind. This was exactly why she'd been determined to not let anyone else in on this. The only reason Bee knew was because Gyūki had travelled back, and then at least had the decency to warn them.

"Do you know who it was?"

"No idea," Gyūki grumbled, looking furious that he had to admit to that. Bee was still sat back, but was now humming along a tune, clearly quite at ease with the current situation, as if this kind of thing happened everyday.

"Well, the others are probably getting worried about me," Naruto mused, standing up and offering up her fist to Bee. The teen smiled before bumping his own against her, offering her a goodbye as both she and Kurama left the place only Jinchuriki could reach.

* * *

When Naruto came to, it was the sight of Obito's face, but inches from her own.

"See, I told you she was waking up."  
Squawking and pushing the boy out of the way, Naruto shook her head, staring at the boy in poorly masked confusion.

"Why the hell were you so close?" Sitting up, Naruto let her legs dangle over the side of the bed, head swimming with information. It was terrifying.

A sharingan user had come back in time. Force Gyūki to let them tag along. They could be dropped anywhere in the future time-line, anywhere between now and what had been fourth shinobi war time. That was a big gap, and Naruto wasn't sure she could handle the pressure of being prepared at a moments notice.

She wasn't strong enough to take either of them on right now, so all she could do was throw her self into training and focus on keeping Obito on the straight and narrow. That sounded like a good enough game-plan for now, the rest she could just wing the rest of it. If there was one thing Naruto was an expert at, it was flying through life by the seat of her pants.

.

Scanning the room in front of her, Naruto took in the lightly coloured décor, the grumbling Obito upon the plush floor, and the Kakashi leaning against the wall nearby, scowl in his eyes.

"What happened?" Kakashi's voice was only just audible over the sound of Kushina's singing; the woman had to have been in the en-suite bathroom, but it was a low tone that promised he wouldn't be dropping the subject.

"A problem," Naruto mused, placing a hand over her stomach, "and no, I don't want to talk about it."  
Both boys looked like they wanted to fight her current decision, but Kushina chose that moment to return to their presence. Her red hair was dripping wet, freshly washed and pulled up into a pony-tail accordingly. A plain white kimono covered her form, a bag of feminine products in one hand which she causally dropped onto the bed.

"Boys, go get some ramen."  
Both Obito and Kakashi exchanged confused looks, the latter dragging the former after him when it looked like the Uchiha was going to argue with the red-head.

.

As the door slammed closed, Naruto winced, cringing into her shoulders until her neck had all but disappeared. Kushina stared down at her, hands on hips with a frown on her face.

"Anything you want to share Naruto-chan? Perhaps the fact you're very much a Jinchuriki? Would that be a good topic to start on?"  
The blonde curled into herself slightly, drawing up the quilt covers around her with a small whimper.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well we're talking about it. You dropped unconscious, in the middle of the street never the less, and was clutching at your stomach. Thinking you're injured, of course I'm going to check your stomach. I just wasn't expecting the whacking great big seal to be there. I know that something that big is holding back something equally big."

And then, Kushina's arms were wrapped around her, pulling her close and pressing her face into her shoulder. "I know it's hard. I'm the same."  
Naruto bit her lip, but was unable to stop the tears that fell from her eyes. Here was her mother, doing what she'd always dreamed of, offering to comfort her. But she couldn't unload all of her worries, because there were things that Kushina couldn't know. Life was painfully unfair that way, destroying all her chances of ever getting comfortable with her mother.  
So instead, Naruto just sat their and cried, clutching to Kushina like she was going to disappear at any moment, like everything else in her life had done so far. Was it too much, asking for a mother that'd look after her? That's want to hold her and help her with all her worries and problems. Apparently, that answer was a yes.

Finally, when the tears had stopped falling, Kushina pulled back, brushing a few blonde strands back from her face.

"Want to tell me which one it is?"  
Shaking her head in a no, Naruto bit on her lip, stomach rumbling beneath her shirt.

"Does Jiraiya know?" She nodded, "and Minato?" A shake of the head, and Naruto dared to glance up.

From the slight red tint to her eyes, Naruto realized that Kushina had been crying too.

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Clutching at the packets of Miso ramen they'd been able to buy from a local vendor, Obito narrowed his eyes at Kakashi's back. The silver haired boy had pulled him from the room before he could demand answers from Naruto. Obito wasn't happy about it at all. He worried for his blonde best friend. She'd woken up looking exceedingly distressed, panic clear in her blue eyes and the defensive position of her body. Something was bothering her, and Kushina had to know something about it in some way or another.

When they'd taken a look at Naruto's stomach, the red-head's face had taken on a calculating expression, as if the seal suddenly made sense. Kakashi had explained that as an Uzumaki, Kushina was excellent at anything to do with seals, and that she'd probably been able to figure out what had felled Naruto so suddenly. Obito wasn't too sure.

Unlike Kakashi, he didn't know this woman, nor did he trust her as much as the silver haired boy seemed to do. Until he saw Naruto okay with his own eyes, he would keep worrying.

.

As Kakashi kicked open the door, holding the share of ramen that Naruto would probably plough through, Obito barged past him, dropping the load of food he was carrying upon one of the bed's before dashing over to where Naruto and Kushina were sitting. The red head had one arm around Naruto's shoulders and the blonde who was possibly the happiest person Obito knew was leaning into the touch.

"You okay Naruto?" And then the blonde looked up.  
Never had Obito ever seen the girl look so damn breakable before. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed red, tear streaks marring her normally cheerful cheeks. A watery smile was upon her lips in exchange for the grin the usually occupied the spot and it all looked so very wrong. And it was in that moment that Obito realised Naruto might be this amazing, powerful kunoichi, but she was also just a kid his own age. Pressure could get to her, she could get hurt and she could feel pain. Something was clearly troubling her, and Obito found himself rather hurt that she hadn't shared her worries with him.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asked, snatching up one of the bowls of ramen from the bed behind him and offering it up to the girl. She gave a sad laugh, shaking her head but accepting the ramen.

"Not right now Obito."  
Kushina gave her a sympathetic look but didn't push her, clearly she'd gotten whatever information she needed from the girl, because she headed over to where Kakashi was sitting to start eating her own food. Obito frowned, but didn't say any-more. Naruto may not trust him with all her secrets yet, but it had to be a pretty big one for her to keep it from her team-mates like this. So he wouldn't push her to confess.  
Not for a while at least.

* * *

**Slighter shorter chapter, quicker update.  
Muhahahaha, did you think Naruto would be alone in her time-travel? Of course I've got to have a bad guy it here. It was all going too well for her, I needed to throw a curve ball in. Needed to I tell you.**

**.**

**The fluff will be coming at the end of this part, I swear. Please, it's only two more chapters. **

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading and reviewing. **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	18. Part 3,6

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.6**

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

"Naruto?"  
The blonde skidded to a halt, head snapping back to look for the owner of the voice. Kakashi was stood off to the side, watching his enigma of a team-mate make her way towards the edge of the camp. She was in civilian clothing, but his keen eye could make out at least four concealed weapons on her person. The mind that had won him the title of prodigy allowed him to pick up this key fact whilst he coolly regarded the basket clenched in her hands, bright blue eyes still locked on him.

"Yeah Kakashi? What's up?"

"Where are you going?" _I thought we were going to spar today_. Frowning, Kakashi pocketed one hand, the other toying with the handle of a kunai, which was sticking up at out his weapons pouch ready to be called upon if necessary. In front of him, the blonde girl just grinned, lifting up the basket in her hand and rapidly waving it about in quick succession.

"Off to get some herbs for dinner. We're being shipped out tomorrow back to the village, so I thought I'd stock up whilst I could. Lightning country has some great onions that only grow there; if I'm lucky I'll find some on the borders."

"Oh." Kakashi bit his lip in an attempt not to pout under his mask, watching as Naruto gave him a weary half smile before turning on her heels, heading out towards the edge of camp before she finally disappeared behind the trees.

.

Ever since she'd dropped into unconsciousness the girl had been on, distant. Painfully so. Even Obito seemed to have caught it, what with the way the raven haired boy has sent him a questioning look. It was the kind of look at Kakashi hated, the one that said he was the genius out of the two of them, so he should most certainly know what was going on with their final team-mate. But in all honesty, Kakashi had no idea.

He'd managed to gather that Kushina knew something about the problem; she kept sending the girl sympathetic glances every so often that had the red-head often turning in on herself, surprisingly enough considering the loud, boisterous personality she usually possessed. All Kakashi knew was that it had to be something big, something huge if Kushina only knew a bit and was reacting in this way.  
Minato-sensei clearly had no idea, the blond had kept sending the two of them questioning glances, but the two boys would only shrug in confusion, because they honestly had no idea what was going on. Oh, he wanted to know, wanted to know so badly he was seriously considering pulling Naruto over to a side and demanding that she spill her guts. The only thing that was holding him back- well, Naruto would demand to know his own problems.  
And he could barely wrap his own head around them, never-mind trying to get Naruto of all people to understand.

.

Sighing, Kakashi turned on heel, heading back towards the barracks of sorts and pushing back the tarp to one of the tents. On a more humorous note, he now knew why the Uchiha avoided the land of Lightning, and the surrounding area, whenever they could. After three days of exposure, Obito's hair. Well, Kakashi had no words to fully describe the monstrosity that he woke up to witnessing every morning.  
Sharing a tent with the male members of his team -Naruto was bunking with Kushina- Kakashi had thought they were all comfortable with one another. Something told him that Obito had no idea or forewarning from the rest of his clan in regards to his hair, otherwise he'd probably have never agreed to sharing a tent.  
The boy's hair was a magnificent creation; the spikes were gone, replaced with spiral, wavy locks that stuck up in all directions, like Shisui's hair, only worse. Maybe that's why Shisui had that hair, maybe Kagami had spent a little too long in the Land of Lightning.

Well anyway, Obito hair was a mess. One that Kakashi took great humour in looking at whenever he had the time. He also took great humour in kicking the boy out of bed in the morning, but he wasn't going to let Minato know that, 'cause otherwise the blond would want to do it himself and steal what little fun Kakashi allowed himself.

"Obito, get up."  
There was a resounding thump as the raven hit the earthy floor, thrown from the hammock he'd set up until his nose crunched against the earth. Luckily for the Uchiha, it was hard packed earth, so Kakashi wasn't too worried about him. Well at least, not right now.

"Whadaya want 'ashi." The boy's words waffled into one another and the silver haired Chũnin snorted, rolling his coal black eyes before flicking the boy's ear. As expected, Obito yelped, shooting up out of his tangle of blankets and screaming at him the whole time.

"Wait, where's Naruto?"

"She went out to get some onions. Now that we've got a tentative peace with Lightning, the regulations on you genin aren't as tight any more."  
Picking up the clothes -which unlike his own, were not neatly folded up- Kakashi threw the articles at his team-mate.

"We're gonna spar."

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Skidding to a halt several miles North-East of their camp, Naruto dusted down her loose fitting orange shirt, a wicked smile crossing her face at the sight of the onions before her. She hadn't lied to Kakashi, the beauties before her had been her primary objective when leaving the camp. As long as she could catch some meat on her way back, the team would be eating well tonight.  
It just so happened she had a secondary objective she was hoping to achieve, though it was very much fifty fifty chance. Kneeling onto the earth, she began to dutifully pick out the onions, letting her eyes slip shut to just enjoy the feel of the earth around her nimble hands, the soft sound of the birds chirping away in the trees.

For a moment, she was tempted to reach out within herself for the natural chakra that was in the air around her but pushed the feeling away. This body hadn't been trained yet, and whilst she could summon the frogs and they were very much clued in on her situation, they had already informed her that her body couldn't handle it, Kyuubi enchanted healing or not.  
It was a pain, but a pain she would have to deal with for the time-being.

.

It was half an hour later, when she was approaching the last few onions that another chakra presence flared to life nearby, alerting her to the fact she was no longer alone. Naruto turned her blue eyes skywards just in time to see Killer Bee rocket off a tree-branch, leaping over the clearing. It was almost comical how his head shot around to look at her -it wasn't exactly like she'd been hiding her presence- and he stumbled in his landing.

"Bee-san," she muttered as politely as her tongue would allow. She ached to call him by something more familiar, but right now, they were barely even acquaintances. All he knew was that she wasn't of this time, and that she was Kurama's Jinchuriki. Maybe Gyūki had told him some more, but she wasn't too sure if the Ox would say anything or not.

"Little Yellow! Old Eight's done nothing but bellow. Why you chilling here little lady?" His rhythms were nowhere near as fluid as what they'd been in the future, just another aspect that showed she didn't belong here, and that she would probably be forever awkward regardless of what she would change. She maybe become accepted, but Naruto was starting to doubt whether this place would feel like home.

"I don't believe most of these tales, but if things happen right, maybe together we'll fight."

'_**He's saying he'll help us out if the knowledge Gyūki has proves true.**_' Kurama's voice, so painfully tired, echoed through her skull and Naruto nodded slightly, rubbing at her free-flowing golden hair before sighing.

"Yeah sure. We've got a theory by the way Bee-san; Kurama thinks that Gyūki was used to bring this guy back because out of the rest of the tail beasts left, he had the most chakra out of them, which meant he could go further back in time. But due to this guy not being a Jinchuriki, it was easier to shake him off."

.

Flopping backwards onto the ground, Naruto let out a long sigh, rubbing wearily at her temples and trying to ignore the stinging pain in her eyes that was a result of the onion left over on her fingertips.

"I gotta get stronger to look after everyone. Bee-san, you gotta too. Don't trust anyone claiming to be Madara. Especially if he's wearing a mask."  
Either one of the Uchiha duo would be a bad mix into the current time-line. Thankfully, he wasn't here, not yet. He'd been dropped at some point, though and that was almost worse than whoever it was turning up now. Because it was an unknown that gave her little chance for planning. True she was known for flying by the seat of her pants, but still. This was pushing it, even for her.

"Like I wouldn't if you hadn't told me, I'm a train to the highest degree!" Pumping his fist into the air, Bee let out a long battle-call that had Naruto laughing as he disappeared back into the forest. It had been a short meeting, but a helpful one. Bee was on board, or at least, he would be shortly. It'd only be a matter of time, and of course, he'd warn the other Lightning Jinchuriki of the Akatsuki at the very least.  
Whatever happened, Naruto was pretty sure it was a step forwards, so for now, she'd leave it at that and focus on spreading her influence in other places.

* * *

Lugging her pack further up the small of her back, Naruto squinted her eyes as the sun began poking over to top of the tree-line, almost directly in her eyes with the route they were travelling in. Minato was walking along before her, thumbs looped into the pockets of his trousers, an easy going smile on his face. She could probably guess why.  
If she'd been the one to successfully organise a treaty that quickly with A whilst helping tend to his unconscious younger brother, she'd be pretty happy with herself too.

However, Naruto was currently only a lowly Genin, she needed to focus on moving up the ranks and gaining more influence. Only then would she be able to start pulling off her own peace missions; just because Lightning were on okay terms with them, didn't mean that the rest of the world was.

There were three other big countries out there, not to mention she needed to look into Akatsuki. Was it still peace organisation, or was she too late? Nothing she knew towards Nagato's life had any exact dates, which was incredibly frustrating and setting her nerves on end. Jiraiya had promised to keep an ear out, but there was only so much one could hear from Rain when it was in such a choke-hold by one leader or the other.

.

"I'm putting the two of you in for the Chũnin exams when we get back."  
Naruto choked. Stumbling to a stop, the blonde looked up at her sensei, obvious confusion evident on her face.

"I think the two of you are ready, and didn't that Rin girl say she could join you? Her team-mates probably aren't ready yet."  
Grinding her teeth together, Naruto chewed on her lip, trying not to say anything. Chũnin, she had just been thinking about that, but that now meant being on the same team as Rin. Letting her eyes slide over to look at Obito, Naruto watched as the boy gave a huge smiled, clearly quite happy about his sensei's confidence. Or at least, that's what she hoped he was happy about.

"Me and Naruto are gonna blow them out of the water! Let's see them beat our powerhouse team-work." No mention of Rin. This was, this was good.  
Smiling, Naruto cupped the back of her skull with both hands, elbows up and out and an easy smile on her face.

"Yeah, we're gonna rock the place."  
Chũnin here she comes.

* * *

**Gah, I'm so sorry that this has taken so long. Exam season is upon us, and it's every student for themselves. I've had to all but abandon my stories for the past two weeks, and the only reason I'm updating right now is because I've given myself the day off revising for today, seeing as I had a Biology exam this morning, and a Psychology exam yesterday. **

**The good news is though that ONE, my last two exams are on Monday, so after that, you can expect some more updates. And TWO, the fluff is next! Yeah for filler chapters! Not that this doesn't feel like one, but it is just to round off Part 3. So, yeah.**

**.  
**

**AMERICAN'S & HOLIDAY GO'ERS!  
Does anybody here live/regularly visit Florida Orlando? Because I'm coming over in July (the 8th I do believe) and ever time I've been we have never found anywhere half decent to eat. I'm looking for a place that isn't too expensive, but that's not too touristy rubbish. I'm quite fond of steaks or something like that, so yeah.  
Help me out, and whoever provides the best one -I'll put my trust in ya' and go out to try whatever you put forwards- then you'll get to pick the idea for the next Fluff chapter. So, yeah. (I hope that's a good incentive, I can't think of anything else)**

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading, a review would be cool, but yeah. If you wanna help a stressed exam student, they do uplift my day. **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	19. Part 3,7

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 3.7**

* * *

**Naruto  
ナルト**

Hands clasped around the handle of the wicker basket she'd spent an hour packing early that morning, Naruto focused on the deep red and white chequered pattern of the blanket covering the food, trying not to look at her team-mate.  
Obito, noticed her not a second later, dark coal eyes shooting up to look her in the face before he realized who it was.

"Oh. Hi Naruto." He made to rub at his eyes, attempting to clear away the tears before she could notice them -way too late for that- but hie orange tinted goggles were on, so all he succeeded in doing was drawing more attention to himself and probably injuring his knuckles in the process.

"What's up?"  
He snorted, shoulders dropping even further forwards till they were almost curved inwards, as if he wanted to disappear from her sight. Hell, if anyone caught her with eyes that red, she'd probably be feeling the same.

"I don't wanna talk about it."  
Ah, well this was awkward.

.

On one hand, Naruto knew that most Uchiha liked to be left alone to deal with their emotions, to draw their own conclusions by thinking things through at every possible angle. Most shinobi were like that too, which was what left Naruto conflicted. Because Obito wasn't like most shinobi, and he certainly wasn't like most Uchiha. Not right now he wasn't.  
Instead, it felt like she was looking a mirror; back when the villagers used to scorn her, to frown at every moved she made, be it the right or wrong one.

How she'd slump down in an alleyway, all snotty nosed and tear-streaked cheeks and how everyone would just pass her by like she was a piece of litter, just a taboo on society that was recognised but tactically ignored by everyone nearby. No one wanted anything to do with her, and no one had wanted to help her.  
So it was rather obvious what she was going to do.

"Hey Obito, I was going on a picnic with Jiraiya-sensei, but the old man skipped out on me. Wanna help me eat this food?"  
Sure she could quite easily inhale it all by herself, but this wasn't about that. This was about helping Obito out, about breaking that mask long enough to find out what was upsetting him, and then she was going to fix it. Because that's what she did, she helped everyone that she came across. No way was she going to be leaving her crying team-mate hunched over against the wall as everyone past him by.  
That just didn't sit right with her.

Giving the boy no time to protest, Naruto snatched up the black haired boy's hand, tugging him up as he gasped in surprise.

"Come on, I know just the place."

* * *

She lead him up to Shikamaru's hill. The tree was younger, smaller than what she remember it being last time she'd been here. She hadn't visited the haunt of the smartest boy she knew since she'd come back to the past; she'd never had the need to before. But now that the sun was dropping low into the west, it gave a create view over the rest of Konoha, lighting up the worn paints of Konoha's buildings with fiery shades of orange, red and yellows. The structures may be different, but the effect was all the same. This was still her home, still her village. And it would be standing this time around.

Beside her, Obito was shuffling about nervously, clearly something was troubling him more than what he wanted to admit to if he wasn't back to his bouncy self yet. With a trained flourish that came with the multiple picnics made whilst travelling around the elemental nations, Naruto spread the blanket out with the skill of an expert returning to her chosen field.

"You like steak right? Because that's what I packed for dinner. Got some dango too." Watching as her team-mate dropped onto the blanket, Naruto grinned, rubbing sheepishly at the back of her head. "Come on then, tell me what this is about. Why the tears. And don't say you got something in your eye. That crap won't fly with me 'ttebayo." Folding her arms and leaning back against the tree trunk behind her, Naruto raised a blonde brow with a serious a face as she could possibly manage at this age.  
Obito scowled but apparently realized that he wouldn't be getting out of this one, marching from side to side in front of the blanket, one hand lifting his goggles till they were resting on his forehead and the other threading through his hair.

"I don't wanna talk about it Naruto." Which was evidentially not the case if his continued presence and constant pacing were anything to do with it. It was possible he was just sticking around for the food, but Naruto quickly dismissed it. Her food wasn't that good; Kushina and Mikoto were tied for greatest cook in the world.  
Aside from Teuchi, but as far as Naruto was concerned, what that man could do with ramen made him some holy, god like figure to be worshipped. But enough about ramen, time to focus.

"We're team-mates. We're suppose to share our problems."

"Well what about you Naruto? You have this huge secret, but you won't tell us." Ah, so he was paying more attention than she thought.

.

Sitting forwards, Naruto absent-mindedly patted at the blanket in front of her; Obito unconsciously following the direction by plonking himself down opposite her.

"Obito. I need you to listen. If the wrong people find out about my secret, they will not hesitate to kill me. Even some people in this village, all because of what I am. I'm no threat to Konoha, but people fear what they can't understand, okay? The second I think that you won't confess my secret, even under the most extreme torture, I will tell you. That's the promise of a life-time. I doubt what's upsetting you is as life-threatening as that," Naruto muttered, sitting back before folding her arms across her chest and breathing out a low breath.  
Eyes wide, Obito seemed to have got the message, because he couldn't quite look her in the face after that. Which was just making things awkward now. Reaching into the basket, Naruto pulled out two containers, pulling off the heat seal before handing one over to the Uchiha.  
Pleased at the distraction presented before him, Obito began eating, and the two continued in relative silence.

.

Naruto was halfway through her second stick of dango when Obito spoke.

"It's Rin."  
Pausing and pulling her lips back from the doughie balls, Naruto forced herself to swallow the too big mouthful, weary of taking too long to chew in case the boy clammed up again.

"What about her?"

"I asked her out of a date."  
Ah, not as much progress as she'd thought she'd been making then.

"And she said no?" Cocking her head to a side, Naruto bit her bottom lip, pulling it back between her teeth whilst her eyebrows shot up questioningly.

"She said she was going to go read some medic jutsu stuff. So I went to get some dango."

"And?"

"And then I saw her chasing after Kakashi, begging for a date with him."

Naruto snorted, rolling her eyes. She could remember Sakura and Ino, and how desperate they'd been for Sasuke. Girl's it seemed, didn't change that much. It was just her; she was the oddity. Not wanting to date till she made Chũnin. Sorta maybe falling in love with Sasuke anyway. Losing it all and now being so emotionally confused, so broken that she couldn't tell up from down any-more. Never quite sure what she was feeling, only that it was positive, negative or neutral. In her current state of confusion, there was no way she'd be able to relate to Obito right now. Which meant it was pep-talk time.

"You know what, she's an idiot."  
Obito's head snapped up to look at her so quickly that Naruto winced when his neck clicked.

"What?"

"Well yeah, you're totally the nicest guy ever! You're always there for her but she doesn't appreciate it! You don't know what it's got till it's gone!" Trailing off, Naruto rubbed at her cheek, blushing slightly before taking another bite of her dango. "Why do you like Rin anyway?"  
It was almost like a physical slap the way Obito reacted; flinching back and all but wincing slightly, looking over at Naruto with wide eyes and mouth spluttering for an answer.

"Well, she's pretty and smart and-"

"Yeah, but Kushina's pretty, and Kurenai-chan his smart. What makes Rin special?"

.

Silence descended again, and Naruto let it settle, waiting for Obito's answer. This was a chance for her to nip this in the bud, to pinch this infatuation before it got out of hand and say, destroyed the world. Yeah. This was her chance, and she without a doubt going to grab it by the throat.

"What are you looking for Naruto. Who do you like?"

"The guy I liked is dead," Obito winced, but Naruto pressed on, more than willing to spill her heart if it'd encourage Obito to do the same, "I want a guy who stands up for what's right, for what he believes in. How won't back down an holds to his morals like Kakashi holds onto that mask. I want a guy who's not afraid to laugh I guess. Someone just as stubborn as I am; that can spar with me but knows when to chill too."

"Laugh huh? I guess Kakashi's out of the running then."  
She couldn't help it, she laughed. Rolling her eyes at Obito, who was chuckling along too, Naruto drew her knees up to her chest once her dango was finished, rolling her shoulders before smiling and wrapping her arms around her legs.

"I want someone who'll recognise me for me. That's the important part. Someone who won't try to change me."

"I want that too."  
Grimacing, Naruto looked away from her friend, head in her elbows and eyes scanning he village's landscape. Because wasn't that what she was trying to do? Trying to change Obito? Or was she just nudging him in the right direction? When had her moral compass taken such a nose-dive?

"I'm gonna think about this," Obito mused, standing up before turning to face her.  
Begrudgingly, Naruto stood, facing her friend with her head held as high as she would allow it, grimace on her face.

"Thanks Naruto."  
Arms wrapped around her and Naruto froze, head snapping backwards on her neck in shock at the hug. Only for a second though, before she relaxed in the Uchiha's arms and returned the gesture. Obito's hug was warm, a feeling the left her aching for that kind of comfort, that kind of reliability every day of her life. To be that appreciated.

"No problem Obito."

She wouldn't know for years, but Obito left that hill with a light fluttering in his stomach that day.

* * *

"And just where have you been?!" Jiraiya was stood at the door, nostrils flaring, hands on hips and doing his very best to play the intimidating guardian.  
Sheepishly offering up the empty picnic basket, Naruto shrugged slightly, hoping to play this off as nothing too big.

"You tell me to meet you by that waterfall, hell, I ever forestalled my research for the day, and then you didn't turn up you little brat! How dare you!"

"Cool your jet's Ero-sensei, something came up."  
The white haired toad sage snarled at her, repeating her last three words over and over again in a sarcastic tune as he could manage.

Snorting and rolling her eyes, Naruto folded her arms across her chest, pouting, "it was Obito. Something about Rin."

"Oh." Reeling back and looking as if the whole incident had never happened, Jiraiya face lit up in a small smile.

"And?"

"And I think I'm making progress."

"Excellent. I give it a year before you start feeling something for the boy."

"Gah! Ero-sensei!"Smacking her perverted teacher on the arm and growling when he howled with laughter, Naruto pushed past him, determined to start planning out her Chũnin exam kit.

"Maybe the two of you will inspire my next book!"

"Baka!"

* * *

**So, I've recently discovered I suck at writing fluff. Sorry.  
Quite depressing actually. I'm putting this up now; I've got the next chapter finished too, and I'll be uploading that at the weekend so that you've got something to read whilst I study. Hope that's okay.**

**.  
**

**AMERICAN'S & HOLIDAY GO'ERS!  
Does anybody here live/regularly visit Florida Orlando? Because I'm coming over in July (the 8th I do believe) and ever time I've been we have never found anywhere half decent to eat. I'm looking for a place that isn't too expensive, but that's not too touristy rubbish. I'm quite fond of steaks or something like that, so yeah. Any recommendation would be good.  
**

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading, **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	20. Part 4,1

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 4.1**

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Stretching his arms out above his head, Obito Uchiha let out a long, low sigh, arching his back and feeling the vertebrates pop stiffly against one another. Rolling his shoulders about in his joints before following through with the movement in his elbows, Obito scratched at the back of his head, flicking his now once again spiky black hair about as he stared in the mirror. Nothing much had changed from last year, at least, not as far as he was aware.  
The summer heat of early August had once again brought out his tanned skin, contrasting against a vast majority of the Uchiha's around him. Not that he needed to stand out any more amongst them, but what could he do?

Shrugging, Obito drew in a large breath before vaulting out of his window, running through a series of hand-seals and blasting a large, grand fireball at his waiting team-mates. Kakashi just sighed before offering Naruto his conjoined hands. The blonde girl laughed, foot in Kakashi's hands before vaulting upwards, a Rasengan forming in her palm. The blue chakra construct ripped through his fire-ball, throwing flames in all different directions. The swirling chakra died off and Obito held out a hand, snatching Naruto up and spinning her back towards Kakashi, who caught the blonde with an almost amused roll of his eyes.

"We're getting better at that I think. Pick me up tomorrow," Naruto mused, running a hand through one blonde pigtail as Kakashi set her back on her feet.  
Since they'd gotten back from the mission to the Kumo border, the team had been starting the day at one another's house, where the one that lived their would fire off a jutsu on the other as some form of a wake up call. It was fun, and kept the three of them on their toes. Especially when Naruto had an ambush of shadow clones ready for them that one memorable day.

.

The three paused when a light cough was heard to the left, Naruto's head whipping around a second before the rest of them.

"Uncle Kagami?" Obito cocked his head to a side in confusion, blinking at the sight of his uncle. Kagami was in his mid-forties, old for a father, and a good ten years older than his wife. Little Shisui looked up to him like none else though. Both he and Obito's aunt, Kariu had fallen in love seven years ago, and had not been separated since. Mikoto seemed to be under the impression that if one died, the other would die of a broken heart. Obito prayed that wouldn't happened to cute little Shisui, but vowed to look after his beloved little cousin if the unthinkable happened.

"Hey kiddo," Kagami's hand came down on his hair, ruffling the locks and Obito scowled despite the fact this was his favourite uncle. Kagami was almost like a father to him, considering Obito's had died on a mission months before he was even born.

"I've been put in charge of your team today. We've got a mission that's of great importance to the village today, so follow after me."

.

Walking through the streets of Konoha with Kagami was different; he was a well respected war hero known for his loyalty to Konoha. Everyone who knew him liked him; he was particular familiar with the man that ran the sweet shop, and he got the three of them a bag of candy each for their little trip to the main gate. Naruto had quickly figured out why he favoured Kagami to Fugaku on the uncle front.  
The man himself was chewing on the black liquorish he'd bought, his deep thinking all but scribbled across his face with he way his eyebrows were drawing together.

"So, who knows what the most important thing to Konoha is?"

"Ninja," Kakashi dead-panned, to which Kagami laughed, ruffling the boy's hair and ignoring the silver haired ninja's disgruntled look.

"Nope."

"It's the children."  
Kagami paused, turning to look at Naruto. She had a mouthful of bonbons, cheeks rounded under the pressure their presence caused, but she still spoke evenly. He wasn't too surprised, with the amount of food that Naruto was constantly shovelling into her mouth, she'd probably developed the ability instead of slowing down her eating.

"Yeah. What's your name kiddo?"

"It's Naruto." Kagami nodded, and even though Minato had probably already told him before he'd handed the reins over to the Uchiha, he seemed to make a special note of the girl walking along beside him.

"Little Naruto-chan here is right, the next generation is what's most important to Konoha, especially in a time of war like this. Which brings us onto our mission," reaching into the pocket of his flat-jacket, Kagami pulled out a scroll before smiling sadly, "due to the war, an unfortunate amount of children have been orphaned. A and due to the state of the war at the moment, the surrounding villages have sent almost all the orphans to Konoha for protection. Our mission is to fetch the children from the gate at nine-hundred hours and escort them all to the orphanages so that they may be evenly distributed around the village." That was sad.

Obito frowned, nibbling on the dango stick before something clicked in his head. He turned to look at Naruto, who had always described herself as an orphan before Jiraiya, and a frown crossed his face. Because Naruto's face was carefully blank, and clearly the situation was a little too close to the bone for her.

"You three okay with this?"

"Yep. Let's get going." Naruto bounced on her feet, replying before either Kakashi or Obito could even have an input and Obito grimaced. And he thought he wore a mask of happiness.

* * *

The grand gates of Konoha stood before them in all of their majestic glory, swept wide open and offering a warm greeting to the crowd of orphans that were being marched towards them. The Ino-Shika-Chō trio looked quite bored with the lack of danger on their mission, but the latter's face lit up at the sight of Kagami.

"Kagami-sempai!" Waving his hand, Chōza offered the Uchiha a huge grin as they neared, unaware of the orphans that were now full blown staring at the Uchiha that'd been pointed out to them. Sighing at his team-mate, Shikaku rolled his eyes in some half amused gesture, turning towards the kids as Inochi took the back, making sure no-one had fallen behind.

"Kids, this is Kagami Uchiha. He and the little brats with him are going to get you all sorted in the village. And yes, the four of them are ninjas."  
Obito chuckled slightly, ignoring the brat comment in favour of his amusement at the children. It appeared they'd done their fair share of nagging the trio on the trip here. Kagami bowed slightly to Shikaku before handing over an empty report scroll, probably to be filled in and handed to the Hokage now that they were back. Obito quickly found out his guess was right because the lazy ninja let out a low groan before taking the scroll, scowl on his scarred face.

"Okay then children, I want to to pair up with a buddy," Kagami addressed the crowd much better than what Shikaku had managed, and Obito grinned until he felt a tugging on his pants leg.  
Looking downwards, the Uchiha blinked in confusion at the little girl that looked up at him; huge violet eyes, white hair and a teary face.

"I don't have any friends."

"Well you can be my buddy then," Obito mused, picking the little three year old up and settling her against his hip, much like he did with Shisui. The boy would turn four in a few days, and Obito hoped and prayed the Chũnin exams wouldn't get in the way of him celebrating his cousins birthday.  
Minato had taken the team out for his own birthday, and Obito knew for a fact the blond was planning to do the same with Kakashi and Naruto's upcoming, eleventh birthdays.

"My name's Obito Uchiha!"

"My name's Hayako," the shy voice murmured. The girl attempted to bow in his arms but only succeed in slamming her head into his shoulder. Chuckling as the little girl began rubbing her forehead in annoyance, Obito hefted the girl up his hip a bit before turning to look at his team-mates.

Kakashi -as the most observant of the group, had taken up a post at the back of the group to make sure no one ran off, whilst Naruto already had two little boy's, both probably the same age as Hayako, attached to her legs.  
The blonde girl was laughing as she walked along as if the two weren't sat on her feet, the boy's screaming in laughter. Naruto was such a sunny personality that almost all the kids were watching her and all Obito could do was smile at the display.

.

Five orphanages later and they were down to the last nine of the kids that'd arrived. Hayako by this time had more than happily listened to Obito talk about the life of a ninja, her light purple eyes wide with shock and a little smile on her face.

"And there are some ninja that heal people too! They're super useful in battle, because if someone gets hurt, a medic can patch them up!"

"I-I wanna be a m-medic Obito-san."

"Talk to the people at the orphanage and they'll stick you in a class as soon as possible. I'll even drop by to give you some training when I can."  
The little girl in his arms blushed, nodding as she did so before a smile lifted her lips upwards.

"Thank you Obito-san."

"Gah, make it nii-san. I always wanted a little sister."  
Hayako blush burned brighter, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder in embarrassment and Obito gave a hearty laugh.

.

In front of the group, Kagami as reading out the names of the little orphans When Hayako's name was called, Obito raised his free hand, indicating to the little girl on his side and Kagami smiled.

"Meiwaku?" There was a terrifying silence among the orphans as they looked between one another for a child that clearly wasn't there. Kagami's face dropped, a scowl over-taking it before he looked to the three ninja's around him.

"Go find him. Orange hair, green eyes, four years old, shouldn't be hard. I'll stay with these one's till then."  
One of the orphans gasped, whispering that Meiwaku was in trouble now and Obito could only nod his head and agree. Kagami had only disciplined him once, but the disappointment in his eyes when he'd done it; Obito had made sure to never upset the man again.

"I can help, I k-know what Meiwaku looks l-like," Hayako murmured, looking up into Obito's eyes as the boy nodded.

"I'll take Hayako with me, and no, I won't let her out of my sight."

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Kakashi pressed a hand to the ground and a small brown pug puffed into existence, looking up at the silver haired ninja in obvious confusion.

"Pakkun, we're looking for an orange haired boy, green eyes about four years old by the name of Meiwaku. If you find him, bring him back here."

"Okay boss."  
Obito stared, watching as this cute little dog, this summon of Kakashi's, nodded his head as he replied to his owner and disappeared down the street, off to search for a scent to follow.

.

Beside Kakashi, Naruto rubbed at her chin in contemplation before a wicked smile lit up her face, her hands rubbing together as an evil chuckle escaped her lips.

"Wanna play the summoning game huh? I'll bite."

.

And then there were toads.

Hundreds of knee-high toads around them as Naruto pulled her hand back from the floor as she'd finished summoning them.

"Guys, orange hair, green eyes, four years old and his name is Meiwaku. Find him."  
There was a grunt and then the toad's were gone, hopping away down the streets as civilians screamed in panic at the sudden infestation.

Sat on his hip, Hayako watched them go with bright, wide eyes and a shocked look on her face. Kagami's expression was much the same as he shot Naruto a glance, the blonde girl stood tall and proud; the move had probably eaten at half her chakra, whereas it'd have killed any other shinobi who tired it at her age.

"Okay, off you go then," Kagami grumbled, running a hand through his messy hair and shaking it about, as if he was trying to wipe what he'd just seen room his memory. Obito would happily admit to being jealous of Naruto's insane chakra reserves, but then again, her chakra control sucked.

Snickering, Obito shifted little Hayako onto his back before leaping up onto the roof's and taking off to search for the brat.

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

Regardless of Naruto's planned invasion of toads, it was Pakkun who found the boy, having picked up a small scent trail that went in the opposite direction of the orphan's trail form the village gates.  
From there, both he and Kakashi had tracked the boy down -making sure not to step on any toads as they went- to a small soup shop where the boy had been begging for some of the tomato flavoured food. Buying one to go, Kakashi had quite easily gotten the troublesome squirt to follow after him till they'd managed to manoeuvre him towards the orphanage and to Kagami's waiting eyes of disappointment.

Obito had dropped off the little girl that was doing nothing but constantly hanging onto him and the three of them had parted ways with the elder Uchiha at the completion of the mission.

.

Which lead them to where they were now, walking down the main street of Konoha and heading towards Ichiraku's ramen for dinner. Naruto seemed pretty happy now that the mission was over, and was happily chatting to Obito The two were attempting to arrange a day to go and visit the last orphanage so they could help out with the kids, but Kakashi was not getting sucked into their crazy plans this time.  
He had training to focus on, that was by far more important.  
Currently, he was walking at steady pace behind Obito and Naruto, content to just watch the two bicker back an forth. Until one of them ran into someone.

.

Naruto flew back and it was only thanks to his quick reflexes that Kakashi managed to catch the girl, who rubbed at her head and scowled in the general direction of the person to injure her. Before them stood a cloud team of three genin, all of which seemed to be about their age. The guy, who Naruto had ploughed into, was sprawled out on the floor, much to the amusement of his two team-mates.

"Watch where you're going brat!" He hissed, turning to look at Naruto who glared back with an equal frown.

"You walked into me!"  
Kakashi would disagree with the blonde, but he hadn't really been paying too much attention into what was in front of the girl, more focused on the fact he didn't have team training for the next two weeks at least thanks to the Chũnin exams. And since Minato-sensei was off helping with the exams, that meant Kakashi was left on his own for training. Or even worse, he had to train with his disgrace of a father.

"Shut up brat; we're here to blast through the Chũnin exams!"

"Yeah, well I'll see you there, and then crush you under-foot!" Naruto finished her promise with a wave of her fist, all but snarling at the boy before her as she leapt to her feet.

"Break it up guys-" the only one of the team with dark skin sighed, rubbing wearily at his head before shrugging, "we might be at peace right now but it's not completely stable remember. Best behaviour Raikage said."  
The boy grunted and Kakashi raised a brow.  
So Konoha and Kumo had come to an agreement; that's why a cloud team was here. He'd already know the minor villages would be sending some out to the exam, but Kumo sending some; hell, then sending one was a shock.

Naruto shook her fist one last time as Kakashi ans Obito hooked his arms under hers and pulled the girl away.

It would appear these Chũnin exams were going to be interesting to watch after all.

* * *

**Well here it is, as promised. This should see you through the weekend. Can anyone guess the three members of the Kumo team?  
I'm quite looking forwards to this Chunin exams business, I've got loads of idea's floating around in this fat noggin of mine and I intend to use as many of them as I can. **

**And yeah! Part 4! I feel like I'm starting to get somewhere with this story! I hope you all like it.  
As for Hayako, she'll pop up every now and then, but she won't be important to the story line. More for fillers and character development of both Naruto and Obito. **

**.  
**

**AMERICAN'S & HOLIDAY GO'ERS!  
Does anybody here live/regularly visit Florida Orlando? Because I'm coming over in July (the 8th I do believe) and ever time I've been we have never found anywhere half decent to eat. I'm looking for a place that isn't too expensive, but that's not too touristy rubbish. I'm quite fond of steaks or something like that, so yeah. Any recommendation would be good.  
**

**I've decided instead of the above buisness of the best picking the next fluff at 800 reviews, I'll pick a random reviewer and let them decided between the options from here on out. **

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading, **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	21. Part 4,2

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 4.2**

* * *

**Rin**  
**リン**

Obito seemed to almost have a heart attack when he saw his team-mate.

"Naruto, what happened to your hair?!"  
Rin couldn't help but stare. They were stood outside the academy with all the other participants, awaiting further instruction. And then Naruto had turned up, with hair almost as short as Obito's. Little wisps of blonde hair sticking up on the sides of her forehead that looked oh so much like their soon to be Fourth Hokage. She grinned, rubbing at the back of her neck before letting out a little sigh.

"I figured it'd get in the way during an exam, can't let it bog me down." The blonde stretched her arms out before turning to look at Rin herself. Her expression became unreadable for a second before a small smile lit up her face, lifting up the whiskered cheeks as she smiled. "Hi Rin, been a while."  
It had. With the war raging on and the whole alliance with Kumo just recently, every ninja had been busy. They'd not even been able to celebrate the alliance yet, the war with the other three nations was too prominent right now.

"Let's do our best Naruto-chan," Rin responded, clasping both hands in front of her body and nodding her head to the exuberant girl.

.

Stood between them, Obito grinned, rubbing at he back of his head as his other hand adjusted his goggles. The raven haired boy had changed a lot since they'd been at the academy. He hadn't run up to her and called her name loudly; instead he'd approached at a slow, almost lazy approach, and he was actually early.  
She'd quickly found out why though, Naruto had told him the meeting time was an hour early, and the boy had shown up all flustered and in a rush, only to be told he was in fact, on time. He'd dropped to the ground, stared at her for a bit before biting out a curse on his team-mates name. Rin hadn't been able to stop the giggle at that.

And then there was Naruto. Back at the academy, she'd been so mysterious when she'd shown up that one day, so far out of their league and so much closer to Kakashi than any other wannabe in skill level. It wasn't surprising though, her sensei had been quick to inform her she was Jiraiya's adopted daughter, which pretty much explaining everything. Hell, even her happy go lucky personality could be pinned onto the man's influence, so she wasn't too surprised. The way she clicked with Obito though, that was a surprise. Weren't too similar forces suppose to repel each other? Either that wasn't true, or there was a lot about her current team-mates that she wasn't getting right now.

"Okay then, lets head in!"

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

From the corner of her eye, Naruto watched Rin like an Akimichi watched a salad, with the deep scrutiny of one who did not want to be in this situation. However, her pride, and need to be a Chũnin won out over practicality, and so Naruto found herself stood alongside another lot of Chũnin hopefuls.

In front of them, Shōgo Yamanaka, current head of torture and interrogation, was stood upon a raised platform, hands placed behind his back and an innocent, almost cheerful smile upon his face. His hair was long and blond, as expected of his clan, with a grizzly scar running across his jawline and up his cheek.  
He spoke clearly, though there was a hint of a slur -possibly due to the trauma his face had suffered through- as he addressed the lot of them.

The room was mostly filled with Konoha teams, but Naruto had managed to pick out the team from Kumo. Her eyes locked onto the female blonde, who stared back at her with an obvious display of curiosity.  
She could imagine why; the girl would be able to sense the demon chakra with her, but not able to fully pin-point it to what it was. It would leave the girl guessing, just in the same way that Naruto was currently left guessing with the girl's own power too.  
She was almost certain that this was the female Jinchuriki from Kumo, but didn't want to go right up and say anything. Not only would that give the game away, but they had such a tentative alliance right now, seeing as Minato and A had drawn it up in the field, tending over Bee's fallen form. There was no way that'd hold if they started messing the cloud's Jinchuriki, either one of them.  
So grinding her teeth together, Naruto turned her attention back to the torture and interrogation specialists before her, determined to actually pass this exam. She could always approach the girl later after all.

"So, you will pass through one of these doors behind me. Each room contains a select variety of poisons. Out of the ten there, three won't cause any ill side-effects. Five won't cause you any serious damage; as as for the other five? Yeah, you won't be able to finish off the exam if you pick one of those. You must drink two different bottles. As soon as your team completes this task, you will move on to the next one. You have one hour, now go pick a door."

.

Looking to her two team-mates, Naruto frowned.  
Obito had two hands on his head, fingers curled up in his hair and a look of utter dejection on his face. The boy clearly had no experience with poisons what so ever, but that was to be expected of a Genin. Rin on the other hand, was training in medical ninjutsu, which meant that she'd probably be able to identify the worst poisons.  
There team was well balanced really, both she and Obito were heavy hitters -well, Obito was getting there- and then the had Rin to back them up. Whilst Naruto loathed to admit it, it was probably a good thing that the girl was on their team.  
Even if she was jeopardising Naruto's personal mission of saving the world.

.

Stood before the wooden door, Naruto took in a deep breath as Obito pushed it open, following her raven haired team-mate inside. A long, steel table was presented in the center of the room, with nothing else. Ten glass bottles sat on the surface of the table, each a different colour and shade, the neck of the bottle corked.

Rin stepped in nervously after her and Naruto began chewing her lip, rubbing at the back of her skull.

"How long will it take you Rin? He said we have an hour?"

"I should be able to get them done before times up," the brunette murmured, making her way forwards before slowing to a halt in front of the vials. Her palm lit up a light green and it slowly hovered over the first one, a bubbling purple concoction that Naruto was sure she'd seen in one of Orochimaru's hideouts in a previous time. She would be forever thankful that the snake was long gone from Konoha now, having abandoned them some time before the war started when his experiments were found out. It hadn't been too long after her father had been announced as Hokage actually.

Sighing, she turned her attention back to Rin, who had now taken out a small pen and was writing on the glass bottle.

"What's it say?" Obito peeked around the medic's shoulder and Naruto rolled her eyes at the two of them.

"It's a maybe. A few notes on possible side-effects I could detect, but I'm not sure to be honest."

"That's okay Rin-chan, just keep going. I'm sure you'll get it."

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Obito cringed, looking at the clock again to see that they only had five minutes remaining of the time allocated to them. And they only had four definite no's.  
There was a light sheen of sweat coating Rin's forehead as she looked between the last six bottles, obvious pressure settling upon her shoulders.  
Naruto was sat upon the table now, frowning at the liquids before her when the timer for the last five minutes came on. Rin actually jumped at the buzzing noise, whereas Naruto let out a harsh sigh before reaching forwards and snatching up the first two bottles in her reach.

"Naruto, what are you-" Obito cut off his sentence, watching in morbid fascination as the girl popped the cork out and downed the possibly poisonous substance without even flinching.

"Peach juice," she murmured, smacking her lips together before placing the empty bottle upon the table.

"Naruto, wait, I'm not sure-"

"Doesn't matter," Naruto grumbled, downing the second bottle in the same manner she'd drunk the first. This time, her expression twisted up in disgust and she actually dropped the bottle, one hand going to her throat and clawing at it.  
Obito could feel the panic rising in his stomach as he looked to the door, an examiner bursting through not a second later.

And then, the biggest belch he'd ever had the displeasure of hearing since Kagami went on a stag do echoed through the air, silencing the three of them. Naruto had stood back up straight and was jumping from foot to foot, and certainly not looking like she was about to throw up.

"Kid, you just swallowed the worst one. How the hell are you still standing?!" The examiner, a Nara Obito noted, stared at the blonde girl in the same manner that both he and Rin were doing. The blonde oddity just shrugged, rolling her shoulders back before sighing.

"I have a very high poison tolerance. It'd take at least ten times the amount for me to even start feeling the effects."  
The Nara murmured something about medically impossible, whilst Rin just flat out stared at the girl. Obito however, was more than willing to accept that. He knew his team-mate had an accelerated healing rate thanks to whatever funky bloodline she had going on, it wasn't that hard to believe it stretched outwards towards a poison tolerance, even if the Nara disagreed.

"Well, I guess you pass then."

.

The next room was as boring as the first introduction room; steel walls, steel chairs, steel tables, and steely faced Genin staring at the three of them.

Naruto dropped into the first chair she saw, tenderly rubbing at her stomach as if she'd eaten something nasty.  
Which she actually had, but Obito wasn't about to point that out. It was only thanks to her that they'd even gotten through. Rin had done her best, but Naruto had clinched them victory. Which meant this next test was Obito's time to shine, without a doubt.

Dropping into a chair alongside his blonde team-mate, Obito let his eyes sweep over the competition, frowning to himself as he did so. The team from Kumo that they'd run into was there, along with three from waterfall and two from grass. However, the vast majority was of leaf genin. Including-

"Naruto-hana!" The green whirlwind that was Gai launched itself across the room, narrowly missing Naruto's form and all Obito could do was blink in surprise. Naruto had managed to dodge him somehow. Obito had barely seen him coming, he'd never have been able to dodge that.  
Naruto growled slightly, and Obito would swear on his dead grandparents that the girl had murmured something about how she 'understood Sakura now'.

"Gai, let go of me," Naruto shook her leg form side to side until the green blur flew off it, earning a chuckle of amusement from Gai's team-mates. Ebisu and Genma sighed, the latter shifting the toothpick in his mouth about, the only sign of his embarrassment at his team-mate. "I've told you. You want a date, you gotta earn it in a spar."

"Right Naruto-hana, the springtime of youth is upon us! I will secure a date with you or run five hundred laps around Konoha!"

"You said you'd date him if he won?" Obito stared at Naruto, who just looked back at him with her bright blue eyes, blinking once before she smiled lightly.

"Well yeah, if he wants to. Though he's about ten years too early to win against me."  
He wasn't too sure at why his stomach bubbled at the thought of Gai being on a date with Naruto. And then Obito realized what the problem was. It was the same feeling he got whenever Rin went asking Kakashi on a date. Was it jealously?  
Why the hell would he feel jealous if Naruto was on a date, especially with Gai of all people? Because his rival was getting stolen?  
That had to be the answer.

Grim faced, Obito turned back to the instructors as the final bell rang; completely missing the look of obvious confusion that Rin gave him.

* * *

**Yeah, here we go. Forest of Death next, as you can probably guess. I'm not totally happy with this chapter, but I feel you guys have waited long enough, so yeah. **

**Also, in another note, I've set up a blog for this on Tumblr, in which you can ask the cast of this story questions. And as long as the answer doesn't spoil the plot, then they'll be answered. The blog is '_whatanexcellentplan. tumblr. com_, so if you feel like dropping by, go for it. **

**.**

**A few reminders;  
Sakumo **_is alive; has been since early Part 1, in which he describes an orange blur saving him and his team-mates on the mission, which they then completed. However, it got around that he was planning to abandoned the mission to save his team-mates, hence the disgrace. _  
**Kumo **_and Konoha have a very delicate alliance, created due to the fact Bee passed out from the time-travel. Whilst it would be risky sending their own troops into Konoha, it is also a show of alliance towards the other villages they're currently fighting against; a show of, if you full out attack them, you deal with us too. Both sides benifit. _  
**Finally, **_Pakkun found the scent by trailing back the on the group of orphans scent until it was a full group, until he found a scent that broke off from the others. Hence how he found the kid. _

**.  
**

**AMERICAN'S & HOLIDAY GO'ERS!  
Does anybody here live/regularly visit Florida Orlando? Because I'm coming over in July (the 8th I do believe) and ever time I've been we have never found anywhere half decent to eat. I'm looking for a place that isn't too expensive, but that's not too touristy rubbish. I'm quite fond of steaks or something like that, so yeah. Any recommendation would be good.  
**

**I've decided instead of the above buisness of the best picking the next fluff at 800 reviews, I'll pick a random reviewer and let them decided between the options from here on out. **

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading, **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


	22. Part 4,3

**What An Excellent Plan**  
**Part 4.3**

* * *

**Kakashi**  
**カカシ**

He wasn't too sure how he ended up here. Oh wait, yes he was. Both his team-mates had abandoned him for a promotion, and his sensei was overseeing said path to promotions. As a Chũnin under the age of twelve, Kakashi was forbidden from taking an C-rank outside of the village on his own. Which had resulted in him taking up the only possible C-rank on offer.  
Stood before the Uchiha main-house door, Kakashi sighed, scowling ever so slightly because this would be awkward. He'd never had need to come over to the Uchiha compound without Obito or Naruto with him, until now that he'd taken the mission to look after, and subtly train the two year old heir. Only subtly, because the head didn't want his wife to know he was pushing Itachi towards the path of a ninja already. At least, not as strong as he was currently doing.  
The mission was a C-rank because Itachi was a high profile target; being heir to the Uchiha clan did that to your status. He'd already had one kidnap attempt, so it was obvious as to why he was assigned Chũnin protection whenever both parents weren't at home.

.

Which was where Kakashi was now, stood on the porch with one hand raised to knock against the wood.  
Before he got a chance though, the door was pulled open and he found himself face to face -well, at his height it was more face to torso- with the current head of the Uchiha clan. Fugaku Uchiha looked down at him, to the scroll clutched in his hand before the man sighed.

"Well, at least Itachi knows you," he grumbled, pushing past the silver haired boy and gesturing with one hand for him to enter the home, whilst he left to take care of whatever had his current attention.  
Fugaku was only back from the front-lines for a week so that he could sort through the clan casualties these past three months, so the man was probably quite stressed. His wife had already started running some extra shifts at the academy, no doubt to help the next generation of ninja's when they hit the battle-field.

.

Taking the fact he'd been very much left alone as an acceptance, Kakashi made his way into the house, slipping off his shoes and tentatively calling out for Itachi. He knew the little two year old would be around somewhere, he just wasn't sure what the boy would be doing.  
At two years old, Kakashi had been introduced to his first set of wooden kunai, and had been steadily increasing his accuracy with them. Not exactly normal behaviour, or at least, that's what his team-mates had told him.  
Obito had quite proudly announced that he'd been clinging to a plush dinosaur at that time, whilst Naruto had just frowned and muttered it wasn't normal.

For a moment, Kakashi had wondered what the girl had been doing in her years before meeting Jiraiya -was she a genius like him, or a hard-worker like Gai?- and then he'd quickly dismissed it, because it didn't matter.

.

The pitter patter of tiny feet let Kakashi know his young charge was approaching, and he directed his gaze down as Itachi came toddling into view.  
The little boy's eyes landed on him, calculating as they took in his lonesome appearance.

"Where's Naruto and Obito?" He questioned, cocking his head to a side, one hand still curling around a dinosaur toy. Not the herbivore kind that Obito had described, this one was obviously a carnivore going by the teeth.

"Off in the Chũnin exams," Kakashi muttered, watching the boy. If he was right, Itachi was soaking up knowledge, so he might even know what the rank of Chũnin meant. His thoughts were verified when the young boy nodded, making his way over before pulling on the hem of Kakashi's shirt so the silver haired boy would drop to his level.

Itachi leaned over, cupping one small hand around Kakashi ear as he whispered, "will there be a fight for people to watch? Like my dad's?"  
So Fugaku had been telling Itachi about his Chũnin promotion? No wonder the boy knew about it.

"Yes, there probably will be now that we're sort of at peace with Cloud."

"Take me to watch it?"  
Looking at the kid and his oh so serious eyes, Kakashi fought a frown from behind his mask. Naruto had said it wasn't normal to push kids so young towards being a ninja, but Itachi was quick literally asking. And, wasn't that part of his mission right now?  
So Fugaku would approve.

"Okay then."

* * *

**Naruto**  
**ナルト**

Capture someone else's team-mate, and then take them to the tower as a prisoner within five days. Looking for a captive, but also having to stop yourself from becoming a captive. Tricky, and nothing like her own Chũnin exams had been.

.

Stood before the gates to the forest of death, Naruto shuffled, trying to get the images from her head. Orochimaru using the nine-tails chakra against her with the five-point seal. Sasuke getting bitten. Kabuto. Growling and slamming a palm into her forehead, Naruto forced herself to focus.  
Rin was stood beside her, a pack and medic kit on her back, which would be exceedingly helpful should Obito get injured. Her own cuts and scraps would heal long before Rin could do anything for them, but still, it was comforting to know someone was there to patch Obito up should he need it.  
Dancing from one foot to the other, Naruto let out a slow breath before rotating her shoulders.

"How are we going to do this then?" Rin asked, turning her bright brown eyes on Naruto at the blonde grinned sheepishly. The three of them -when they'd all been let out for lunch- had stopped by the ramen stand. And Naruto hated to admit it, but the girl was growing on her. There just wasn't anything that she could fault in the girl's personality other than the fact she kept letting Obito down. It'd been a string of misfortune events, played on by the fact Obito liked Rin. And that Rin liked Kakashi. And Kakashi...

Naruto frowned, thinking of her silver haired team-mate.  
Well, Kakashi didn't really like anyone. In a romantic, or a friendship way.

Scratching at the back of her head, Naruto shrugged.

"We'll just grab the first person we come across."

"We can always aim for a water-fall or grass shinobi," Rin mused, inspecting the contents of her hip pouch for the last time, "they won't be as well trained as a cloud shinobi or one of our own."  
Obito nodded his head in agreement and Naruto followed up after it.

"Yeah, I guess. That's smarter than my plan."

"Your plan?"

"Never mind," Naruto grumbled, not wanting to admit her plan had been to spam her shadow clones till she got someone. Rin's was a tad more thought out than hers, so she'd give the girl her credit. It wasn't possible to hate her, even if Obito's love for her had completely ruined Naruto's life.  
Well, that and Madara, but Madara had been ruining lives for years now.

.

Somewhere in the distance, a cannon went off and Naruto smirked, leaping into the now open gate with her two team-mates following behind her. The three of them kept a good pace, Naruto leading them towards the river because it was were most people would want to make camp, if you discounted the outskirts of the tower that was. Which meant there would be ample targets for them to collect.  
The sun was starting to dip now, retreating from the center of the sky and heading westwards. Naruto liked to think that they had a lot of time left, but in actuality, a lot of it would fly by. They needed to be at the tower sooner rather than later. Because if they weren't, there would be guard shifts, and that would tire them out. And tired out ninja's made easier targets.  
Forming her favourite hand-seal, Naruto let a clone pop into existence, already mentally ordered to find a place to lay low and gather some natural chakra. It wouldn't hurt to have some back up power hidden away.

Obito didn't question her, but Rin lifted an eyebrow as the clone disappeared, asking, "what are you doing Naruto?"

"I've got some back up power to gather, but it only happens when I stay still. Which the clone is going to do for me. If I need it, the clone will pop, and I'll get the power saved up."

"That's thinking ahead," Obito mused, a smile, almost proud, on his face, "you gotta teach me that."  
Naruto laughed under her breath, shaking her head as she did so.

"Oh, I don't think you'd like it. You can end up turning to stone if something goes wrong."  
That shut Obito up instantly.

.

They arrived at the river twenty minutes into the test. Dropping down onto a thick branch on one of the steadier trees, Naruto held out one hand to slow both her team-mates. Below them, was a group of grass genin, who'd just appeared to have made it into to the water-front surface. Grimacing, Naruto turned to look at her two comrades before running a hand through her short hair.

"I can knock them out, but it'll effect you both too if you're not far enough away. Get about fifty feet back. You'll know it'll work because you'll feel it, okay?"  
Obito looked like he was going to protest, so Naruto placed a hand over his mouth, effectively silencing whatever rant he was going to fire off before he could even start.

"Obito, do you trust me?"

* * *

**Obito**  
**オビト**

Running alongside Rin back from the river clearing, Obito frowned. He was not comfortable with leaving Naruto to work, but he did trust her. One hundred percent, there was no way that she'd get captured, of that he was sure. That one training session where Kakashi and Minato had tried pushing her limits came to mind. He'd had to run to the third and inform him that the invasion of blond girls were all their team's fault.  
Three thousand clones, and Naruto hadn't even passed out from chakra exhaustion. Instead, when they'd all popped, the resulting head-ache had seen her drop onto of Kakashi, which had been hilarious. The so called genius had been at a loss of what to do.

"How's she gonna do it?" Rin asked from beside him and Obito smiled a little, because Rin was talking to him. And then he frowned.  
Naruto's words, from where they'd sat on that hill-top and eaten a lunch the day Jiraiya had left her rang through his head. Yeah, sure Rin was talking to him, but she talked to everyone else didn't she? It was no big step forwards, and Naruto had been sort of right. He liked Rin, but was it love? He wasn't sure, and since he didn't have the answer to that, he couldn't answer.  
And thus, he wouldn't be moving forwards on the relationship front any time soon.

.

All thoughts were thrown out the window when the biggest, greatest killer intent began pressing down on them, like thousands of stones falling from the sky and coating them, forcing them into submission. Beside him, Obito could make out Rin, her eyes wide with panic and her face twisted in terror; he bet his was no better.

And then, as sudden as it had appeared, it was gone.

"Naruto!" Obito hissed as his mind came back to him, leaping to his feet and barrelling through the bushing in front of him.  
He didn't register that Rin was behind him, possibly alone if she wasn't following him. His team-mate, the girl that'd stuck up for him and declared him her 'epic rival' was closer to whatever that was than they'd been.  
And it'd almost had them wanting to kill themselves.

.

Bursting through the shrubbery, Obito skidded to a halt, breath almost knocked out of his lungs as relief flooded him. Naruto was stood in the clearing, unharmed.  
She was bent over ever so slightly, knelt on the ground and the Uchiha boy made his way over to get a better view. Two of the grass genin were lying on the river bank out cold, probably unconscious from the looks of it. Obito wasn't surprised. Any closer and he and Rin might have been in the same state.

"What was that?"  
Naruto looked up, blinking her wide blue eyes before a smile blossomed across her face. She tightened the rope she was holding, the rope that was holding their prisoner before she stood up, calmly brushing down her shorts as she did so.

"That Obito, was killer intent. I've learnt how to make a lot of it."  
He'd say. To think, that deadly kind of feeling had come from the little blonde girl before him. If she hadn't been training with a sannin since she was four, Obito would have been jealous.

Behind him, Rin crashed into the clearing, looking around and them slumping when she realized they were both fine.

"Well come on then, let's get to the tower."

* * *

**Some day, these chapters will stop being so short. Well, anyway, here's the next update, seeing as I've had the day off work today I was able to sit down and get this cracked out. I hope you like it, added in some Kakashi because I just can't leave him out, period.**

**If you've got any questions for the cast of this story -not quite sure why you would, but I've had some already- head over to my profile and you'll find a tumblr link on there. This blog with have an ask section and I'll be putting up special one-shots on there. So yeah, that's where all the goodies will be going so they don't clutter the main story.**

**I'm sorry it if seems like I'm being mean to Rin, I actually love her character, but I'm still trying to work her into the plot and I'm getting a bit out of it in regards to writing her. I don't like bashing anyone, and I'm desperate to avoid it. So Rin will be getting her own Part dedicated to her and Naruto interacting. I promise.  
**

**SOME shameless self promotion too, because I've got another FemNaru timetravel going now, called '_Bone of Contention_' which is Naru travelling back to Madara's time to sort things out from the start. So, erm, if you like this, you might like that?**

**.  
**

**So does Naruto have a Samui hair-cut?  
**_No, it's more like how it's cut in the manga on the 12 year old Naruto. That kind of short.  
_** I just wish there was more Kakashi!  
**_You'll like part 5 then, there's gonna be more Kakashi than Obito in that one -no romance though-.  
_**When will Naruto and Obito get together?  
**_Not for a while yet, because Naruto is still mentally sixteen. She won't even be able to think about Obito like that till he's at least fourteen.  
__**If we do not hear from you before your holiday-**  
__I'll leave a notice to let you know that it'll be the last chapter for a while, promise. And thanks._

**.**

**WHAT TO DO IN FLORIDA?**

**I mean, I know there's the theme-parks and the shops and all that, but my dad's asked me to ask you guys if there's other stuff to do. One year we visited a fort on the coast, my dad like's that kind of stuff, so if you could just drop an answer, I'd be greatful. **

******.**

******Well, that's all for now, thank you so much for reading, **

**Tsume  
****xxx**


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